Netherlands (NED)

The Netherlands start the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 under new leadership. Previous head coach Per Johansson surprisingly quit his job in September 2024 to focus on his tasks at Györi Audi ETO KC, but it took only three weeks for the Dutch federation to pick fellow Swede Henrik Signell as his successor.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Signell coached the Korean women’s team and previously (from 2016 to 2020) was coach of the Swedish women’s team, steering them to the semi-final of the 2017 IHF Women’s World Championship, when they lost the bronze medal match against the Netherlands.

The Dutch play their 10th Women’s EHF EURO and their sixth in a row. Between 2015 and 2019, they reached the semi-finals of all major tournaments (EHF EURO, Olympic Games and World Championships), and won gold at the World Championship 2019 in Kumamoto. The Dutch record at the EHF EURO includes silver in 2016 and bronze in 2018.

Despite always being among the favourites, the Netherlands have failed to qualify for any semi-finals since becoming world champions, finishing the EHF EURO 2022 in sixth position and both the 2024 Olympic Games and the World Championships 2023 in fifth.

The team’s big star Estavana Polman, MVP of the World Championship in 2019, who currently plays club handball at CS Rapid Bucuresti has not been selected for the upcoming championship. The Dutch squad will be led by a host of other EHF Champions League Women players: Angela Malestein at FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria; Dione Housherr and Bo van Wetering at Györ; and Larissa Nüsser and team captain Lois Abbingh at Vipers. Like their group phase opponents Germany, they aim to finish in a top position at the EHF EURO 2024 to have a perfect foundation to co-host the world championship next year.

The qualification for the EHF EURO 2024 was like a walk in the park. As in 2022, they won all six matches, this time against Czechia, Portugal and Finland. The top scorer in the qualifiers was Angela Malestein with 28 goals.