The 24 nations competing at the Men’s EHF EURO 2022 will benefit from more rest days when the tournament throws off in January next year.

Following consultation and feedback from stakeholders, including players and coaches at national federations, additional rest days will be guaranteed in line with the new event playing schedule, which was confirmed by the EHF Executive Committee on Tuesday.

Hungary and Slovakia will co-host the event between 13 and 30 January, with 65 matches taking place across five venues in 18 days. It will throw off in spectacular style with an opening party which will include the first match inside the newly built Budapest arena featuring hosts Hungary in group B.

For the first time there will be an additional rest day for all teams, who have to travel between the preliminary and main round. Furthermore, every team that is required to travel to their main round venue will also benefit from additional rest day.

The schedule for the main round has also been altered to benefit the players. The regular rest day between the main round and semi-finals on 27 January remains. However, for those teams involved in group II in Bratislava, an extra rest day has been confirmed which has previously not been the case. It means, for the first time, all semi-finalists will play just once in the space of three days prior to the semi-finals.

Both semi-finals will take place on Friday 28 January before the bronze medal and gold medal matches on the final day in Budapest on Sunday 30 January.

Martin Hausleitner, EHF Secretary General, said: “The welfare of the teams has always been at the heart of all our decisions regarding scheduling and we are pleased to have found solutions in order to give players extra rest in between important matches.

“The new schedule ensures teams are given suitable time to rest, recover and travel in between fixtures.

“The schedule has been optimised for the players but also in order to accommodate television and marketing aspects. We feel we have been able to meet these requirements which will benefit all stakeholders to ensure a successful tournament.”

You can download and view the schedule below.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow

Further details regarding ticket sales will be released on Wednesday. Seeding has already taken place, so fans will be able purchase tickets for the correct groups when they go on sale.

Hungary will play in group B in Budapest, while fellow hosts Slovakia have been placed in group F in Kosice. Having secured qualification already, Croatia will play in group C in Szeged, while Germany head to Bratislava in group D. Should Slovenia qualify, they will play in group A in Debrecen, while Bratislava will be the home for the Czech Republic in group E should they earn qualification.