EHF EURO co-hosts face each other in four-nation tournament

The beauty of being the host of any EHF EURO Final Tournament is that your team does not have to go through the hardships of qualification. 

The downside - to a certain extent - is the lack of competitive matches in the lead-up. Hungary and Croatia, co-hosts of the Women's EHF EURO 2014 in December next year, are trying to make up for that and will face each other in a four-nation tournament which is completed by teams from Brazil and Norway.

The tournament will take place from 25 to 27 October in Szombathely at the same time as 26 other European nations are fighting for points in Rounds 1 and 2 of the Women's EHF EURO Qualification.

The tournament will mark the first appearance of head coach Janos Hajdu on the Hungarian bench as he is in charge of the team while former head coach Karl Erik Bohn is treated for leukemia in Norway.

Janos Hajdu had already coached Hungary's women's team at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at which the team came fourth. This summer he steered Hungary's women's 19 squad to silver at the European Championship in Denmark.

"We have now started preparing for the World Championship (2013 in Serbia) and the EHF EURO 2014 because the European Championship will be a very important event for Hungarian handball," said Hajdu.

"We will be at home with our fans and it can be a chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games if we manage to be better than last year in Serbia where Hungary finished third at the EHF EURO 2012.  

"Now we started building the team for these competitions and I hope we will be able to do our best for Rio."

Hajdu continued: "Being a host of the EHF EURO 2014 has set us at ease because we don’t have to play the qualification.

"It is a good opportunity to practise with young players, but it is also important to play matches against strong nations such as Croatia, Brazil and Norway. We would like to be the winner in this tournament.”

Anita Görbicz, winner of the Women's EHF Champions League with Győri AUDI ETO the past season, sustained an injury in August but hopes she will be back on track for her club's first EHF Champions League encounter against on 5 October.

"It was amazing when we won the bronze medal match at the EURO 2012 but now we have new challenges, the World Championship in December and the EURO 2014 next year.

"We would like to spring a suprise for the Hungarian fans at both international events. A long way is waiting for us and the first step towards our dream would be winning the tournament in October."