With more than half a year to go until the Women’s EHF EURO 2022 Qualifiers throw off in October, the participating teams will learn their opponents already this week.

From the 16 starting places, 12 are up for grabs in the qualifiers, as defending champions Norway and co-hosts Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro have been guaranteed of their spot at the finals tournament in November 2022.

Those 12 tickets go the winners and runners-up of the six four-team groups in the qualifiers.

The draw for these qualifiers will take place in the EHF office in Vienna on Thursday 25 March at 11:00 CET and will be streamed live on the Home of Handball YouTube account and EHF EURO Facebook page.

So, which teams will be in the various bowls for Thursday’s draw?

A total of 21 teams are going straight to the qualifiers, based on the EHF women’s national team ranking. The remaining three teams will advance from phase 1 of the qualification, which will be played with 11 teams during an additional national team week from 31 May-6 June.

The four pots for the draw look as follows:

• Pot 1: NED, RUS, FRA, DEN, ESP, SWE
• Pot 2: GER, ROU, SRB, HUN, CRO, POL
• Pot 3: CZE, AUT, BLR, SUI, SVK, ISL
• Pot 4: TUR, LTU, UKR, 3 group winners from phase 1

Each of the six qualifier groups will consist of one team from each pot.

The draw will be conducted in the following order:
Step 1: 6 teams of pot 4 to row 4
Step 2: 6 teams of pot 3 to row 3
Step 3: SRB is drawn to row 2 (avoiding the Winner of the QP1 Group 1)
Step 4: 5 remaining teams of pot 2 to row 2
Step 5: RUS is drawn to row 1 (avoiding UKR)
Step 6: 5 remaining teams of pot 1 to row 1

The Women’s EHF EURO 2022 Qualifiers are scheduled to start with rounds 1 and 2 on 6/7 October and 9/10 October 2021, with the remaining rounds to be played in March and April 2022.