The road to the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 has begun

Defending champions Norway will face Romania, Belarus and Lithuania in Group 1 of the Women's EHF EURO 2014 Qualification as it was decided by the qualification draw which took place in Kristianstad on Thursday.

EHF EURO 2014 silver medallists Spain have to take on Netherlands, Austria and the winner of Qualification Phase 1 Group A in Group 3. 2014 bronze medallists Sweden are the EHF EURO 2016 hosts and therefore directly qualified.

The following groups were drawn at the Kristianstad event. Kristianstad is one of the five host cities for the Women's EHF EURO 2016.

The playing dates for the qualification rounds are

7 to 11 October 2015 (Rounds 1 & 2)
9 to 13 March 2016 (Rounds 3 & 4)
1 to 5 June 2016 (Rounds 5 & 6)

From the seven groups the two top ranked teams of each group as well as the best third ranked team overall will qualify for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden. In order to determine the best third ranked team only the results against the teams ranked first and second will be taken into account.

The Women’s EHF EURO 2016 will take place from 4 to 18 December 2016. The host cities for the event are Stockholm, Kristianstad, Malmö, Helsingborg and Gothenburg. Following the Women’s EHF EURO 2006 this is the second time that Sweden hosts the EHF’s flagship women’s national team event.

Group winners sought from Qualification Phase 1

Already at the end of March the groups for the first qualification phase were drawn. From 12 to 14 June 2015 Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Faroe Islands will play each other in Group A, while Finland, Israel and Kosovo meet in Group B. Only the respective group winners move to the next qualification phase which starts in October.

Norway go to Helsingborg, Denmark to Malmö

To allow handball fans some early planning, the Swedish organising committee of the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 has already announced that – provided a successful respective qualification – defending champions Norway would start their campaign in the preliminary round in Helsingborg, while neighbours Denmark would start in Malmö. Should they advance further, both teams would play the main round in Helsingborg.

Hosts Sweden will be seeded in Group A, will start the tournament in Stockholm and would move to Gothenburg for the main round if they proceed from the preliminary round.

New website & social media coverage

Coinciding with the qualification draw the European Handball Federation has launched the official Sweden 2016 event website at www.ehf-euro.com. A Swedish version of this website will be available at the latest by the time the qualification throws off in October.

More information, including photos and videos, on the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 and the EHF EURO events in general can also be found on the EHF EURO social media channels, www.facebook.com/ehfeuro, www.twitter.com/ehfeuro, www.instagram.com/ehfeuro and www.youtube.com/ehfeuro.