27.06.2019, 10:35
24 nations await EHF EURO 2020 fate

DRAW PREVIEW: The largest final tournament in EHF EURO history reaches another milestone with the draw event on Friday at 18:45 hrs at Erste Bank Campus in Vienna

24 nations await EHF EURO 2020 fate

The eyes of 24 expectant and hopeful handball nations will be fixed on Vienna for the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 final tournament draw event on Friday 28 June at 18:45 hrs at Erste Bank Campus in Vienna.

Players from the three host nations and defending champions Spain will be on hand to help with the preliminary round draw. The chosen four are Sweden’s left back Philip Henningsson, Austria’s right wing Robert Weber, goalkeeper Torbjorn Bergerud from Norway and Spanish centre back Daniel Dujshebaev.

Among the 24 participants are three debutants and three teams which will feature for the first time in a decade or longer. Read the breakdown of Pots 1 and 2 and Pots 3 and 4.

How to follow

The draw will be streamed live on the EHF EURO YouTube channel and the EHF EURO Facebook page for all to enjoy, while it will be broadcast live in the following countries:

TV3 Sport and Viaplay -  Sweden
Viasport+ and Viaplay – Norway
ORF – Austria
Sportdeutschland.tv – Germany
TV2  Denmark - Denmark
Telma TV – North Macedonia
BHRT - Bosnia & Herzegovina
SportTV – Portugal
SRG - Switzerland

Fans can also enjoy behind the scenes action from the event on EHF EURO Instagram stories as well as live updates on the EHF EURO Twitter account.

Draw procedure

The preliminary round of the final tournament will be held in Graz, Vienna, Trondheim, Malmö and Gothenburg; the main-round venues are Vienna and Malmö; and the final weekend is taking place in Stockholm.

Based on the qualification groups and the ranking of the EHF EURO 2018, the 24 teams are seeded as follows:

POT 1: Spain, Sweden, France, Denmark, Croatia, Czech Republic
(defending champions, organiser Sweden, four first-ranked teams of qualifiers)

POT 2: Norway, Slovenia, Germany, North Macedonia, Hungary, Belarus
(organiser Norway, four remaining first-ranked teams of qualifiers, one second-ranked team of qualifiers)

POT 3: Austria, Iceland, Montenegro, Portugal, Switzerland, Latvia
(organiser Austria, five second-ranked teams of qualifiers)

POT 4: Poland, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Bosnia Herzegovina, Netherlands
(two second-ranked teams of qualifiers, four best third-ranked teams of qualifiers)

The organisers had the right to place one team each ahead of the draw. Croatia was therefore placed in Group A in Graz, Germany will play in Group C in Trondheim, and Denmark will play their first matches in Malmö. 

The draw procedure will follow these steps:

1. Three teams from pot 1 are drawn into row 1
2. Four teams from pot 2 are drawn into row 2
3. Five teams from pot 3 are drawn into row 3
4. Six teams from pot 4 are drawn into row 4

In the new 24-team format of the the Men’s EHF EURO there will be 65 matches played over 18 days. The top-two ranked teams from each group qualify for the two main round groups, which will consist of six teams each.

Ultimately, the semi-finals and finals will be played in Stockholm over a three-day final weekend.

TEXT: Chris O'Reilly / jh