Poland and Sweden will host handball's biennial men's and women's European Championships, respectively, in 2016, following a vote of the European Handball Federation, the sport's continental governing body, in Monaco on Saturday.

Poland saw off competition from Croatia and Norway to land the men's event, after receiving 27 votes in the first ballot. Croatia and Norway got 15 and four votes, respectively.

Sweden was unchallenged in the women's vote, after Turkey withdrew its candidature.

Poland, which has never staged the men's European Championships, will host games in Gdansk, Katowice, Lodz, Krakow and Wroclaw. The tournament will be played between January 17 and 31.

Sweden, which has staged the women's championship once before, in 2006, will host games in Stockholm, Kristianstad, Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Malmo between December 4 and 16.

Both Sweden and Austria had indicated an intention to bid for the men's Euro 2016 a year ago, but declined to proceed further when applications were submitted to the EHF last September.

EHF Euro 2014 will be staged in Denmark (men) and Croatia/Hungary (women).

In the younger age category competitions, Poland was also awarded hosting rights to the Men's Under-18 Euros in 2014 unopposed, after Macedonia withdrew its bid. The Polish cities of Gdansk and Gdynia will stage the games.

Also for 2014, Linz and Traun in Austria were confirmed as the host cities of the men's Under-20 tournament, for which the country was the sole bidder.

The Women's Under-17 European Championship in 2015 was awarded to Macedonia, the sole applicant, with Ohrid and Skopje confirmed as the host cities.

The EHF said that the executive board will reopen the bid process for the women's Under-19 Euros, also in 2015, after no applicants came forward.

Turkey, Austria and Hungary had all expressed an interest in staging the competition in the past year, but declined to press ahead with bids.

Sportcal