Hungary’s lead follows the achievements of their women’s teams, as they finish on top in their gender after reaching at least the semi-finals of all three events: the W16 European Open in Sweden (third place), the Junior World Championship in North Macedonia (runners-up), and the Youth World Championship in China (third).
Hungary’s men added a bronze medal from the M18 EHF EURO in Montenegro as their best result, and a 12th place at the M20 EHF EURO in Slovenia, for a shared seventh place in the men’s ranking, enough to secure their nation the No. 1 spot overall with 328 points.
Germany (third in the men’s ranking, third in the women’s) place second with 320 points, while Sweden (men second, women sixth) claim the third place with 302 points.
The leading nation from last year, Denmark, finish sixth (men first, women eight) this time, as a busy summer schedule for handball players under 21 has come to an end.
The ranking, first introduced by the EHF in 2019, summarises all YAC events in one summer. The ranking system is based on the performance of each national team at the respective event, following the same pattern applied for the official senior national team rankings.
For instance, there are 80 points for winning an EHF EURO event, 76 for becoming runners-up, 72 for finishing third; and 34 points for winning an EHF Championship.
Overall YAC summer ranking 2024:
1. Hungary – 328 points
2. Germany – 320
3. Sweden – 302
4. Spain – 298
5. France – 296
6. Denmark – 292
7. Iceland – 254
8. Norway – 252
9. Switzerland – 230
10. Portugal – 228