26.05.2013, 04:44
Women's EHF EURO 2014 qualification groups drawn in Veszprem

26 teams will vie for 14 open spots at the final tournament in Hungary and Croatia in December 2014. First two rounds will be played in October 2013

Women's EHF EURO 2014 qualification groups drawn in Veszprem

Women's EHF EURO record champions, Norway, will face Romania and Belarus in their first qualification for a Women's EHF European Championship in more than a decade, while defending champions, Montenegro, take on Czech Republic, Poland and Portugal on their quest to qualify for the final tournament in Hungary and Croatia from 7 to 21 December 2014.

The draw for the Women's EHF EURO 2014 qualification took place at the Veszprem Arena, Hungary on Sunday, 26 May, on the fringes of the Hungarian women's national cup finals.

It was conducted by EHF President, Jean Brihault, EHF General Secretary, Michael Wiederer, and current Hungarian and Croatian national team players, Zsuzsanna Tomori, Klara Szekeres, Miranda Tatari, as well as former Croatian international, Klaudija Klikovac Bubalo.

Apart from the organising nations, Hungary and Croatia, which are directly qualified, 26 national teams had registered to take part. For the first time the defending champions, in this case Montenegro, are not directly qualified for the final tournament.

It means that the qualification phase will be played with five groups of four teams each and two groups of three teams each. The top two ranked teams of each group will qualify for the final tournament.

The following groups were drawn:

The first two rounds of the qualification will be played from 23 to 27 October 2013. An entire overview of all qualification groups can be found here.

Commenting on the draw, Thorir Hergeirsson, coach of the five-times winners of the EHF EURO, Norway, said: "You can't pick the teams you play, so we're okay with the draw. Many of our players have never played in qualification, so this will be a new experience for them, but we look on the bright side because for us it is good to play more important matches.

"We will take each opponent seriously, Romania we know well and will face some tough matches against them. Belarus we haven't played for many years but we know that they have had some good results. For us it is important to be humble and to take each game seriously. Now we're looking ahead to the World Championship in Serbia and want to do well there as well as to qualify for the European Championship."

Dragan Adzic, coach of defending champions Montenegro, said after the draw: "We played against Portugal six years ago, and against the Czech Republic and Poland we have played a few times lately, so we will prepare well those matches.

"Today (Sunday, 26 May) Poland defeated Germany by three goals and that result is telling us that Poland are progressing from year to year and they will be the strongest opponent.

"Behind the Polish team, the most serious opponent are Czech Republic. The fact is that we could have been drawn against stronger rivals, but we have to prepare well for the first match against Poland in October."

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For more information visit http://www.ehf-euro.com/CROHUN2014/, the event's official website. Also become a fan of women's national team handball in Europe on www.facebook.com/ehfeurowomen.

TEXT: EHF / ts