The European Handball Federation has redefined its approach to the upcoming Younger Age Category events, namely the Men’s 20 and Men’s 18 EHF EUROs and EHF Championships, which were scheduled for January 2021.

Taking input from all stakeholders, including the Nations Board, a careful analysis of the situation took place and contact with the organisers of all tournaments in question was established.

In the light of the current health situation, challenges were observed in terms of control of the environment for the players and in terms of potential financial risks for the organisers in case additional measures are introduced by the respective local authorities.

At the same time, the responsibility to ensure playing possibilities for the different handball generations was clearly underlined.

With the analysis at hand, the EHF opted to cancel four competitions – the Men’s 18 and Men’s 20 EHF EUROs scheduled to take place in Slovenia and Croatia respectively, and the Men’s 20 EHF Championships scheduled to take place in Bosnia Herzegovina and Latvia in January 2021.

The Men’s 18 EHF Championships are postponed to August 2021 and will take place in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Latvia.

The Men’s 18 and Men’s EHF 20 EURO teams will continue their path to the under-19 and under-21 IHF World Championships in summer 2021 with a specific qualification mode in which the teams ranked 13^th and 14^th will face the previously promoted promoted teams.

The qualification mode will follow the number of European places in the World Championship and grant a fair competition situation at the same time; specific information to the four M18 and four M20 teams will follow separately.

The female Younger Age Category events, scheduled for summer 2021, remain unchanged.

Overview YAC events 2021