Europe’s youngest take centre stage

The big time awaits 16 young teams at this year’s Men’s 18 EHF EURO, which begins tomorrow (14 August) in the Polish cities of Gdansk and Gydnia.

With this event being the first major international tournament for many of these teams, the race for gold is generally difficult to predict but with Norway and Slovenia not present, due to their participation at the Youth Olympic Games in China at the same time, the competition is wide open.

In for the long run

Reigning champions Germany have seen their younger age category compatriots compete brilliantly in international competition so far this summer, with the men’s under-20s winning gold in Austria, women’s youth team taking world silver and the juniors finishing fourth, the onus is on this team to also go far.

“The boys announced their own target, which is the same the German Handball Federation announces prior to every younger age category tournament – making it at least to the semi-finals.

“Due to the EURO playing system everything is possible. But our main goal remains reaching the semis,” explained Germany coach Christian Schwarzer.

Another side eyeing a medal is France, which would be a big improvement on their predecessors who finished in 12^th position two years ago in Austria.

Coached by former world champion Eric Quintin with assistance from Daouda Karaboué and Didier Dinart, this side is viewed as having the potential to become France’s next golden generation.

“This generation has got a higher handball IQ than the one before. For guys who are only 18, you can see they've been fed high quality handball.

“We've got the potential for it and the clues I've gathered during preparation tell me that we may at least hope for a semi-final spot.

“My joy and pride to take part in such a competition is genuine. To share these few days with the best handball teams is a real pleasure.

Reduced expectations among the Scandinavians

Perennial medallist Denmark (three silver and six bronze medals from 11 events) are unusually modest about the chances of going far this time around.

"This generation is probably a bit atypical compared to what you may be used to from Danish youth teams.

"We do have a lot of interesting players born in 1997, though, while the generation 1996 may be a little weaker,” says head coach Morten Henriksen.

While the Danes are naturally keen to win and do as well as possible, the long term goal of developing players good enough to compete for the senior team is also a high priority at this level.

This view is shared by Swedish coach Ulf Nyström, who is uncertain about how well his boys will do this time around but sees the bigger picture.

"Giving these lads the taste of a final championship is crucial when it comes to developing and maturing them, and I’m really looking to see how they will cope with that challenge and that pressure.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we are going to see some of these boys in the senior national team one day,” said Nyström.

10 World Championship spots up for grabs

With Norway and Slovenia already guaranteed a place at the 2015 Youth World Championship, there are 10 further places to be decided in Poland.

Knowing that qualification for the Main Round will secure one of these berths, home team Poland have their goal set as exactly that.

“This is our dream. If we only manage to maintain the level of concentration like in the last test games, then we can fight for the promotion with great success,” said coach Rafal Kuptel.

The Poles have shown major signs of improvement lately and will be hoping that with the support of the home crowd, that improvement will continue when it counts most. However, there are no thoughts of a medal just yet.

“It is hard to predict anything now. My team has changed a lot. At the beginning we were losing to Denmark, Germany or Russia by fifteen goals. Now we even manage to win in the games against them. We have to remember, that youth sport is unpredictable,” added former world silver medallist Kuptel.

Live steaming and tournament information

The Men’s 18 EHF EURO takes place in the Polish cities of Gdynia and Gdansk from 14 to 24 August 2014. All matches will be streamed live on the official website. Further information can be found on the site and the event's Facebook page.

During the tournament eurohandball.com and the EHF EURO Facebook page will also feature regular reports, features and photo galleries.

Austria hosted the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2012. Back then Germany won, Sweden came second and Denmark placed third.