The 2012 European Women's Handball Championship

European Women's Handball Championship

The European Women's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national handball teams of Europe, and takes place every two years. In addition to crowning the European champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifying tournament for the World Championship...

will be held in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 from 3 to 16 December.

Qualification

Qualification matches will be played from September 2011 to May 2012. Following the new system introduced for the 2010 Men's Championship

2010 European Men's Handball Championship

The 2010 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was held in Austria from 19–31 January, in the cities of Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Linz and Wiener Neustadt.-Venues:...

, all teams are included in the qualification round, except host Netherlands

Netherlands women's national handball team

The Netherlands women's national handball team is the national team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is governed by the Nederlands Handbal Verbond .-Results:* 2006 European Women's Handball Championship: 15th...

. Teams are divided in 7 groups and the two top ranked teams from each group will qualify.

Qualified teams

Country	|Qualified as	|Date qualification was secured	|Previous appearances in tournament1
	Host	27th September 2008	1998, 2002, 2006, 2010