The last five Olympic champions in women’s handball have been European, so it is appropriate that the ‘Old Continent’ will produce the first team to qualify for the Rio 2016 Games. This weekend, the top 16 women’s sides on the continent will go into battle at the European championship, being staged in Croatia and Hungary, with a place at the first Olympic Games in South America at stake. The tournament starts on Sunday (7 December) and by the time it ends on 21 December, it will be know which team will be the first to confirm their place alongside hosts, and current world champions, Brazil.

European teams have failed to prevail in only two of the 10 Olympic women’s handball competitions held so far. The Republic of Korea took consecutive gold medals at the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 Games, while Denmark has three Olympic titles, Norway and the Soviet Union two and Yugoslavia one.

Norway, the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic champions, are determined to regain their European crown after their winning streak of four consecutive titles ended in 2012, when Montenegro took the honours.

“Qualifying for the Olympics means doing really well in this championship, so of course, that's our biggest wish,” Norway centre-back Stine Bredal Oftedal told rio2016.com. “The Olympics is maybe the event all athletes dream most about participating in and winning, and therefore any possibility to qualify is very important. But for now, our main focus has to be on winning match after match in this championship. I’m sure it will be a close and tough championship.”

Defending European champions and London 2012 silver medallists Montenegro will also be anxious to put poor results in the run-up to the championship behind them. They were beaten twice by Croatia and are hoping to recover their form before their opening game.

“I don’t remember when we last made so many mistakes”, said right-back Katarina Bulatovic. “But I think it’s a good thing that we have had the opportunity to see all our weaknesses, so we have a chance to correct them for the European championship. I’m convinced that we will be at the desired level for the opening game with Serbia.”

Katarina Bulakovic is one of the stars of the Montenegro team that will be among the favourites (Photo: Getty Images/Jeff Gross)

Montenegro’s first opponents Serbia have grown in strength since Sasa Boskovic took over as coach in 2011. They were semi-finalists at the 2012 European championship and won silver at the 2013 world championship, losing 22-20 to Brazil. Now they are hoping to book a place at the Olympic Games for the first time ever.

“Our main goal would be to qualify for the Olympics in Rio 2016,” said Boskovic. “Saying that, I think that the women’s European championship has never been more competitive. We have two top-quality teams in our group – France and Montenegro – but we must not underestimate Slovakia as well. I’m under a strong impression that the competition has never been stronger.”

Spain won bronze medals at London 2012 and the 2011 world championship, and are hoping to recover from their last two performances in the European championship, in 2010 and 2012, when they had to settle for 11th place.

“We aim to reach the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and we have the European and then world championships to get closer to this,” said Elisabeth Pinedo, the Spain left-wing. “Our aim is to be in the top five of the Euros, as such a rank increases our chances to reach the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games.”

Serbia coach Sasa Boskovic believes the European championship is the strongest it has ever been (Photo: EHF/Uros Hocevar)

The 16 teams taking part in the competition are divided into four groups. Group A: Spain, Hungary, Poland and Russia; Group B: Denmark, Norway, Romania and Ukraine; Group C: Germany, Croatia, Netherlands and Sweden; Group D: France, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovakia. Groups A and B will play the first phase in Hungary, while Groups C and D will compete in Croatia.

In addition to Brazil and the European champion, a further 10 women’s teams will compete in the Rio 2016 Games. Six places will be decided at the Olympic qualifying tournament, three more at continental qualifiers and the last place will go to the winner of the 2015 world championship.