2012 European Men's Handball Championship

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

• Belgrade Arena.
  Belgrade Arena.

• Маscot Tasa (eagle) with Macedonian fan in Belgrade Arena
  Маscot Tasa (eagle) with Macedonian fan in Belgrade Arena
• Serbian and Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena
  Serbian and Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena
• Serbian and Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena, Serbia vs Germany
• Macedonian fans in Belgrade Arena.

Venue: Pionir Hall, Belgrade

Venue: Čair Sports Center, Niš

Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad

Venue: Millennium Centar, Vršac

Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade

Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad

The final was played at the Belgrade Arena between the host-nation Serbia and Denmark, and was seen by 19,800 spectators.^[11] The teams played a match against each other in the group stage of the tournament, when Serbia defeated Denmark 24–22. Serbia's coach Veselin Vuković could not rely on Žarko Šešum, whose left eye was injured after he was hit with a bottle on the halftime break of the semi-final match against Croatia.^[12]

The match started with tough play by both teams and low scoring. Denmark claimed the lead in the early phase of the match and controlled the period. Serbia's attacks were ineffective, and goalkeeper Darko Stanić made several saves. The Danes made fewer mistakes in the attacks and Anders Eggert scored important goals in the counter-attacks. Denmark led at halftime 9–7.

Early in the second half Denmark took an 11–7 lead, but then the Serbian players halted the opponent's run with a better play in defence, except for Mikkel Hansen who scored with his powerful shots in the critical moments of the game. The Danes were having the lead all the time with a margin of 1–4 goals and thanks to the saves of their goalkeeper Niklas Landin Jacobsen prevented the Serbians to level the result. The last minutes of the game were played with many mistakes on both sides, but Hansen scored the decisive goal for peerless lead 21–18 with 20 seconds to go. Serbia scored until the end making it 21–19 in favor of Denmark at the end. This was the second title for Denmark after they have previously won the European Championship in 2008.^[1]

The final ranking for places 7 to 16 was determined by the team's group stage record. In case the ranking would have been relevant for Olympic qualification, there would have been a placement match for 7th and 9th place.

• Goalkeeper: Darko Stanić (SRB)
• Left Wing: Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (ISL)
• Left Back: Mikkel Hansen (DEN)
• Centre Back: Uroš Zorman (SLO)
• Pivot: Rene Toft Hansen (DEN)
• Right Back: Marko Kopljar (CRO)
• Right Wing: Christian Sprenger (GER)

• Top Scorer : Kiril Lazarov (MKD)
• Best Defence Player : Viran Morros (ESP)
• Most Valuable Player : Momir Ilić (SRB)

Source: ehf-euro.com, 29.01.2012

Source: EHF

On 24 January 2012, after the match between Croatia and France, Serbian hooligans attacked Croatian fans in several locations in Vojvodina, northern Serbia. In Novi Sad, Croatian supporters were heading home after the game, when they ran into a road block and some 50 masked men assaulted them with stones, bricks and axes, smashing windscreens. The attack left several supporters injured and one of them hospitalized. In Ruma, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south from Novi Sad, a Croatian van was set on fire and one of the passengers stabbed with a knife.^{[13] [14] [15]}

A day later the unrest continued and many cars were damaged, torched, or burnt out throughout Novi Sad.^[16] The Croatian Foreign Ministry officially complained to Serbian Ambassador Stanimir Vukicevic over the attacks; Vukicevic expressed regret and stated that the Serbian police was already taking the necessary steps. Thirteen people were arrested in connection with the incident, including Ivan Ključovski and Jovan Bajić, leaders of a fan group from Novi Sad, and a member of the Obraz right-wing organization.^[17] After questioning, all of them remained in custody for a month.^[18]

Serbia and Croatia met in the semi-final of the tournament, which caused further concern on both sides. About 5,000 policemen were deployed to ensure the security of the fans, while in Croatia some tourist agencies cancelled trips for the match and the Croatian Handball Federation (Hrvatski rukometni savez, HRS) also recommended not to go to Serbia as the supporters' safety might not be guaranteed.^{[19] [20]} Spokesman Zlatko Skrinjar also added that the HRS had planned to organize trips for the event, however, they changed their mind due to the incidents in the preceding days. On the Croatian-Serbian border, joint checkpoints were set up to prevent hooligans and other groups who have no ticket for the match to enter Serbia, and to escort the fans with tickets from the border to Belgrade.^{[20] [21]}

The police reported that there were no incidents during the match,^[22] which was eventually won by the Serbians 26–22, however, a bottle actually meant for Croatian playmaker Ivano Balić and coach Slavko Goluža hit Serbian back player Žarko Šešum, severely injuring his eye.^[23] Šešum's eye suffered significant bleeding. After the trauma he had only minimal vision on the affected eye, but the risk of permanent sight loss was reportedly averted.^[24] Morten Stig Christensen, Secretary of the Danish Handball Federation, Serbia's opponent in the final said that he was "severely shocked" by the incident and so were the people from the European Handball Federation with whom he spoke. Christensen also added that he was shocked that although there were more than five thousand security personnel at the stadium, the hooligans still managed to sneak in Roman candles and laser lights.^[25]