Favourites prevail in Men's 20 EHF EURO Qualification

The boarding has been completed for the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2016 in Denmark after the remaining 12 spots at the final tournament were given away in eight qualification tournaments played over the weekend.

France, Hungary and Spain (the teams ranked first to third at the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2014) as well as Denmark as organisers were already qualified which brings the overall number of teams participating at the final tournament to 16.

The draw for the Men's 20 EHF EURO will take place on Wednesday, 13 April at 18:00 hrs CET in Dubrovnik as part of the EHF General Secretary Conference. There will be a live ticker on eurohandball.com as well as extensive coverage on the @EHFEURO Twitter channel.

The closest decision in across all qualification tournaments happenened in Group 7 where the one final tournament spot available was devided by goal difference only and eventually went to the Netherlands.

The Dutch squad had beaten Austria 31:21, while Austria themselves nad beaten hosts Czech Republic 28:22. With all three teams being victorious against the fourth team, Turkey, Czech Republic needed to win by at least nine goals against the Netherlands and they tried hards, but their 26:20 win was not enough.

The Youth World Championship medallists from 2015, silver winner Slovenia and bronze medallists Iceland, won their groups with ease, with Slovenia performing flawless in Group 8 and Iceland topping the table in Group 3.

Germany, who have won the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2014 in Austria two years ago, came out on top of Group 1 in unbeaten fashion. Russia as the second ranked team also qualified for the final tournament.

In Group 2 Switzerland and FYR Macedonia made the cut; in Group 3 Poland ranked behind Iceland but also qualified.

Norway and Sweden are the two teams that qualified from Group 4. Croatia and Serbia, both teams recorded the best possible result of three wins from three matches, left no doubt about which teams would qualify from Groups 5 and 6.

Pots for the draw

Following the qualification phase, the pots for the final tournament draw on 13 April have also been confirmed.

Pot 1: France, Hungary, Spain, Denmark

Pot 2: Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway

Pot 3: Croatia, Serbia, Netherlands, Slovenia

Pot 4: Sweden, Poland, Russia, FYR Macedonia