The European Women's Handball Championship, co-hosted by Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro, starts on Friday as Slovenia open their campaign in Group B in Celje against three-time European champions Denmark. The goal for Slovenia is to come out of the preliminary group stage, which will be a tough task given the opposition.

In addition to Celje, one more group will be hosted in Slovenia, as the Stožice Arena (12,480 seats) in Ljubljana will welcome Group A featuring Norway, Hungary, Croatia and Switzerland.

The Zlatorog Arena in Celje is smaller, with a capacity of some 5,200 spectators, so it is expected to be more packed to help Slovenia come out of Group B that also features Denmark, Sweden and Serbia.

Skopje, North Macedonia, will host Group C featuring the host nation, France, the Netherlands and Romania, and the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica will host Group D (Poland, Montenegro, Germany and Spain).

The three best teams from each of the four groups will advance to the main round, with groups A and B, and C and D crossing paths, respectively. The matches will be played in Ljubljana (Groups A and B) and Skopje (Groups C and D).