International Younger Age Category handball is back this week as 15 of Europe's top nations head to Slovenia for the Women's 19 EHF EURO on 8-18 July 2021.

Following a summer without international events in 2020, this championship sparks a full programme of events where the next generation of Europe's handball stars make a name for themselves.

The championship two years ago in Hungary saw the emergence of Russia's Elena Mikhaylichenko, who was awarded the MVP and quickly went on to become a force to be reckoned with at senior level, and this competition always delivers a sneak peek at who the next big thing in women's handball will be.

The event takes place in Celje, which has established itself as a hub for younger age category events in recent years, having hosted the same event in 2017, the M20 EHF EURO in 2018 and the W17 EHF EURO in 2019, which featured many of the players who will star at under-19 level over the next 11 days.

2019 champions face traditional powerhouses

Hosts Slovenia placed themselves in group A at February's draw event, alongside Denmark, who regularly enjoy glory at this level, Germany and Switzerland.

Reigning champions Hungary have been drawn in an exciting group D, also featuring Norway, Romania and Czech Republic.

Sweden claimed silver in the W17 event two years ago in the same venue with the same generation and will begin their 2021 campaign in group B alongside Slovakia and perennial medal contenders Russia.

With 15 teams participating – the four groups are as follows:

Group A: Denmark, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland
Group B: Sweden, Russia, Slovakia *
Group C: France, Austria, Montenegro, Croatia
Group D: Hungary, Norway, Romania, Czech Republic

The preliminary round takes place on 8-11 July, after which the top two teams in each of the four groups will progress to the main round, while the remaining teams will continue their journey in the intermediate round, both of which are played on 13 and 14 July.

The top two teams in each main round group move on to the semi-finals on Friday 16 July at Zlatorog Arena, with the gold medal to be contested two days later.

Widespread coverage on EHFTV and EHF social media

The Women's 19 EHF EURO 2021 will receive widespread coverage on the various EHF channels.

The entire event will be streamed live on EHFTV. Also, the Home of Handball social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as well as the reports on eurohandball.com will keep fans up to date throughout all the events.

* Portugal are not participating due to positive Covid-19 cases within the team