Europe’s top teams learned their fate on Wednesday, as the draw for the Women’s 17 EHF EURO and the Women’s 19 EHF EURO and subsequent EHF Championships took place at the European Handball Federation (EHF) office in Vienna.

After the 16 teams that will take part at the Women’s 19 EHF EURO in Celje, Slovenia between 8 to 18 July were split into four pots, the draw revealed four entertaining groups, headlined by a star-studded line-up in Group D, featuring Hungary, Norway, Romania and the Czech Republic.

Hungary, the reigning world champions, will face Norway, in a rematch of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in Hungary 2018, where the hosts enjoyed a 28:22 win against the Scandinavian side.

The Hungarian side is also the current title holder of the Women’s 19 EHF EURO, after a commanding 27:20 win against the Netherlands in another tournament hosted on Hungarian soil.

Group A: Denmark, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland
Group B: Sweden, Russia, Slovakia, Portugal
Group C: France, Austria, Montenegro, Croatia
Group D: Hungary, Norway, Romania, Czech Republic

The top two sides in each group will proceed to the main round of the competition, where two groups of four teams will be formed, with the best two teams in each group proceeding to the semi-finals.

23 other teams will take part in the Women’s 19 EHF Championship 2021, which will be hosted in two parallel tournaments in Skopje, North Macedonia and Chieti/Pescara, in Italy from 10 to 18 July 2021.

For the event in North Macedonia, the ten teams have been allocated in two groups, as follows:

Group A: Iceland, Belarus, Poland, Finland, Great Britain
Group B: Netherlands, North Macedonia, Faroe Islands, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

The other eight sides, who will take part in the tournament in Italy have also been drawn in two groups:

Group A: Serbia, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria
Group B: Spain, Lithuania, Georgia, Israel

Tough groups for the favourites at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2021

The 16 best European teams also learned their fate for the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2021, which will take place in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, between 5 to 15 August.

Reigning IHF Women’s Youth World Championship title holders, Russia, have been drawn in Group B, facing Sweden, Slovenia and Croatia, three years after the Russian side beat Sweden, 29:23, at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship in Poland.

Reigning European champions Hungary will also have a tough ask, facing Norway, Slovakia and Portugal, while hosts Montenegro are meeting Denmark, Austria and Switzerland.

Group A: Denmark, Austria, Montenegro, Switzerland
Group B: Sweden, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia
Group C: Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, Portugal
Group D: France, Germany, Romania, Czech Republic

The top two sides in each group will proceed to the main round of the competition, where two groups of four teams will be formed, with the best two teams in each group proceeding to the semi-finals.

Another 22 teams will compete in the Women’s 17 EHF Championship 2021, which is due to take place in two tournaments in Tbilisi, Georgia and Klaipeda, Lithuania between 7 to 15 August.

11 of the teams have been allocated to the tournament in Georgia, as follows:

Group A: Netherlands, Ukraine, Georgia, Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg
Group B: Serbia, Italy, Faroe Islands, Israel, Estonia

The remaining 11 sides will play in Lithuania, with two groups of five teams drawn on Wednesday: 

Group A: Spain, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Finland, Kosovo, Great Britain
Group B: Iceland, Poland, Belarus, Turkey, Latvia

Visit the EHF website for more information.

PHOTO: EHF