Three tickets up for grabs for next phase in World Championship qualification

It is crunch time for the teams who hope to make it into the next phase of the European qualification for the Men’s IHF World Championship 2021 in Egypt.

The last four matches in group 2 and two one-venue tournaments in groups 1 and 3 will decide about the remaining three spots for the next phase.

Only the winners of the four groups will clinch their berth for phase 2 in April. Turkey already secured their spot in October, winning the group 4 tournament as hosts against Belgium and Estonia.

Turkey and the three other winners will contest two-leg ties against those EHF EURO 2020 participants who do not take part in the Olympic qualification tournaments, on 17-19 April. The winners of these ties will advance to the play-offs in June, when nine tickets for Egypt will be at stake.

Group 1: Slovakia put to the test in Luxembourg

In d’Coque arena in the country’s capital, Luxembourg will be hosting Slovakia, Lithuania and Faroe Islands from Friday through Sunday.

Slovakia might be the favourites to win this group, but they are coming off a poor display in the EHF EURO 2020 qualification, where they ended on zero points from six matches. Slovakia want to find the way up again, two years before they will co-host EHF EURO 2022.

Lithuania, also a former EHF EURO participant, could make life difficult for Slovakia, as do Luxembourg, who could benefit from the home advantage and who were winners of the first stage of EHF EURO 2022 qualification.

Also, with various players from the Danish league, Faroe Islands could be a stumble stone for any opponent.

Group 2: Israel on course for ‘final’ against Greece

Israel could set up a ‘final’ for the group win at home against Greece. Both teams currently lead the group with six points each, followed by Finland on four.

While Israel first travel to Finland and Greece take on already-eliminated Cyprus, everything looks set for a showdown between Israel and Greece on Sunday. Even if Israel lose to Finland, they likely would need ‘only’ a two-goal win over Greece to win the group, after Greece won the first encounter 26:25.

Finland are still in with only a minor chance, even if they beat Israel on Wednesday, due to an substantially inferior goal difference compared to their two rivals.

Group 3: Romania eye first major tournament in 10 years

In their golden era in the 1960s and 70s, they were world champions four times. Now Romania have to start from scratch in the qualification for the world championship.

They lost the play-off for the 2019 tournament to North Macedonia, and they were eliminated in the EHF EURO 2020 qualifiers sharing a group with France and Portugal, so the World Championship 2011 remains the last appearance at a major event for the team of new head coach Rares Fortuneanu.

This time, Romania are regarded the favourites for this week’s tournament in Benevento, where they will face hosts Italy, Georgia and Kosovo.

Italy proved their upswing by beating Slovakia twice in the EHF EURO 2020 qualifiers, and they could cause an upset on home ground.

Kosovo, who are yet to win a World Championship qualification match, and Georgia, winners of the emerging nations tournament, have not made it to the play-offs before.

All matches from the tournament will be streamed live on ehfTV.com.