From Belgrade to London

16 top European men’s teams go for the medals at the EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia. And the stakes are high: The European Champion is directly qualified for the 2012 Olympic games in London, two tickets for the three Olympic Qualification Tournaments will be earned by the two best ranked and non-qualified teams, and three teams qualify directly for the World Championship 2013 in Spain, for which the host and World champion France have already booked their tickets.

Twelve men’s teams will compete at the London 2012 Olympic handball tournament – and the qualification period is in full swing.

These teams have already qualified for the Olympics:

Men’s tournament: Great Britain (host), France (World Champion), Korea (Asia) and Argentina (Pan America), the last two direct qualification places will be decided at the EHF EURO, and at the African championships, played in Morocco 11 – 20 January 2012.

The six best-ranked teams of World Championship 2011 that didn’t qualify directly for London up until now (Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, Iceland, Hungary), are qualified for the three Olympic Qualification Tournaments, which will be staged from 6 – 8 April 2012. Each of the two best-ranked teams of those tournaments (in total six) will qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

This is the current situation of those tournaments:

Tournament 1 (in Denmark): Denmark, Hungary (both qualified by the World Championship 2011), Europe 1 (will qualify at the EHF EURO), Africa (will qualify at the African championship)

Tournament 2 (in Spain): Spain, Iceland (both qualified by the World Championship 2011), Brazil (runners-up of Pan American Qualification), Europe 2 (will qualify at the EHF EURO)

Tournament 3 (in Sweden): Sweden, Croatia (both qualified by the World Championship 2011), Japan (Asian runners-up of Olympic Qualification), Chile (third ranked team of the Pan American Qualification)

If World Champion France becomes European Champion in Serbia, automatically the finalist of Belgrade is qualified directly for the Olympic Games. If Spain, Sweden or Denmark – the current hosts of the Olympic Qualification tournaments - qualify directly for London, the third tournament will be held in Croatia, and Poland is automatically qualified for those qualification tournaments due to their ranking at the World Championships 2011.

The two best ranked teams in Serbia, which have not qualified for London or the Qualification tournaments before, will book their tickets for the Qualification. These countries will fight for those two tickets in Serbia: Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Germany, FYR Macedonia, Czech Republic, Russia, Norway and Slovenia.

Further information

Download the Official EHF EURO 2012 Playing Schedule (pdf)

Buy your EHF EURO 2012 tickets HERE.

Ticketing is managed by the Serbian Organising Committees. Should you need further assistance for buying your tickets, please contact via email: tickets@rss.org.rs

Find more information on the tournament on the official website www.ehf-euro.com/SRB2012/

Join the growing community of fans of the event on Facebook www.facebook.com/SRB2012