World Championship 2017 Qualification enters crunch time

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Latvia can become the next two teams to qualify for the Men's World Championship 2017 Play-offs when the first qualification phase continues with Round 5 on Wednesday.

In Group 1 Bosnia-Herzegovina travel to Hlohovec to face Slovakia. A win would definitely secure Bosnia-Herzegovina the top rank in this group, while a Slovakian win would postpone the decision until the weekend when Round 6 is played.

Only the respective first ranked team of each group qualifies for the play-offs. All matches will be available on the EHF live ticker.

In Group 3 Latvia just need one more point to qualify. Their first chance to come will be on Wednesday when they play Greece away.

In Group 2 Finland play Italy, but the game has no significance for the first rank in this group which will be decided in the game between Romania and Austria on Thursday.

In Group 5 Turkey play Czech Republic and in Group 6 Switzerland meet Netherlands in what is the respective first part of a double-header that will decide the first spots in these groups.

Round 5 continues with Romania vs Austria and Ukraine vs Cyprus on Thursday before Round 6 takes place on 16 and 17 January.