Competition will head to Düsseldorf, Berlin, Mannheim, Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, the European Handball Federation (EHF) announced.

The 50,000-seat Merkur-Spiel Arena in Düsseldorf will host the opening match of the tournament.

The German Handball Federation (DHB) is attempting to break the world record for the most fans at a handball match.

The current record, which is 44,189 spectators, was set in 2014 at Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt during a Handball-Bundesliga match.

Berlin, Munich and Mannheim will host games in the preliminary round while Cologne and Hamburg will stage the main round.

Cologne will also witness the culmination of the tournament as it hosts the final weekend in Lanxess Arena, one of Europe’s most well-known handball venues.

"This tournament will be a beacon in the handball decade," DHB President Andreas Michelmann said.

"We are already looking forward to it.

"We have succeeded in distributing the locations of the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 almost across Germany so that we can offer handball a platform everywhere. 

"At this point I would like to thank the other venues, who invested a lot of energy and applied, but unfortunately did not get a chance this time."

EHF general secretary Martin Hausleitner believes the tournament will give the sport a boost.

"The Men’s EHF EURO is the undisputed flagship of our national team competitions," he said.

"It inspires hundreds of thousands in the halls and millions in front of the television screens, and it is the platform for our sponsors and partners.

"The EHF EURO 2024 in Germany has all the prerequisites to set new standards and records in these areas.

"We are very much looking forward to working with the DHB."

The 2024 edition will be the first time the European Men's Handball Championship has been held in Germany.

It will also be the first hosting of the tournament by just one country since it expanded to 24 teams.

Germany did co-host the World Men’s Handball Championship with Denmark in 2019 and will be the sole host of the 2027 tournament.

The next European Men's Handball Championship, in 2022, is set for Hungary and Slovakia.