15.07.2012, 10:51
Men's 18 are fighting for the title

Croatia looking to retain their title in Austria

Men's 18 are fighting for the title

After the Men's 20, the Men's 18 are now competing to become the European Champion.

The Preliminary Round is now complete and the teams go to the Main Round.

Defending champion Croatia are still in the race but the other teams are aiming to win the title too. 

Group A

After three victories in three games, Sweden are the winner of Group A and the first team to qualify for the Main Round.

They clearly beat France (38:24), Iceland (33:22) and Germany (29:20).

The German team is second to qualify for the next stage.

After a draw against Iceland (22:22) and a victory against France (29:21), they are second in the group.

Iceland secured the third rank after a draw against germany and France (28:28).

Group B

The host, Austria, and Belarus are the teams that qualify for the Main Round.

First ranked are Austria, they defeated Norway (24:23) and Belarus (31:23) but they lost their last game of the Preliminary Round against the Czech Republic (32:23).

Belarus won against the Czech Republic (32:23) and Norway (37:33).

The third place in Group B goes to Norway who defeated the Czech Republic with 35:21.

Group C

Defending champion Croatia are the winners of Preliminary Group C.

After two victories against Spain (40:35) and Romania (33:24) and a draw against Switzerland (30:30), they stand ahead of their group.

The second place goes to Spain who defeated Switzerland (34:32) and Romania (40:37).

Third rank goes to the Romanian team that won against Switzerland (30:29).

Even though the Swiss are last in their group, they are the only team that could steal a point from the defending champion.

Group D

Denmark are the winners of Group D.

They won their three matches against Finland (44:25), Slovenia (29:25) and Serbia (31:25).

The second team that qualifies for the Main Round is Slovenia.

They defeated Serbia (42:38) and Finland (41:33).

Serbia secured the third place after a victory against Finland (35:20).

Main Round

The first and the second team of each group proceed to the Main Round that will start on Tuesday 17^th July.

The points of the matches played against the team from the same Preliminary Group remain valid in the Main Round.

The remaining teams will go to Intermediate Round.

Main Round

Group M1
Sweden
Austria
Germany
Belarus

Group M2
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
Slovenia

Intermediate Round

Group I1
Iceland
Norway
France
Czech Republic

Group I2
Romania
Serbia
Switzerland
Finland

All the results and the complete schedule can be found here.

Follow the Men's 18 European Championship on live stream.

For more information visit the official website.

TEXT: EHF