01.01.2020, 10:30
Greece hope to continue on the road to Egypt

PREVIEW: The first European qualification stage for the 2021 IHF Men's World Championship continues with four group 2 matches

Greece hope to continue on the road to Egypt

The road to the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship in Egypt continues at the start of 2020 for four European teams in rounds 3 and 4 of the first European qualification stage.

Four spots in the intermediate stage in April are reserved for the four group winners. While three groups are decided in a tournament format, only group 2 is contested under a home-and-away playing system of six rounds.  

Prior to the matches on 2 January and 4/5 January, Greece are top of group 2 after two victories against Cyprus (31:18) and Israel (26:25).

Greece will face Finland at home on 2 January and away on 5 January. Currently, the Finnish side are on two points after losing to Israel (32:33) and beating Cyprus 30:20.

Israel are the clear favourites against Cyprus on 2 and 4 January.

Group 2 concludes with Greece vs Cyprus and Finland vs Israel in round 5 on 8 January, followed in round 6 by Israel vs Greece on 11 January and Cyprus vs Finland on 12 January.

The first team to clinch their berth for the next stage from this qualification phase was Turkey, who won group 4 on home ground against Belgium and Estonia at the end of October.

The two remaining tournaments – group 1 with hosts Luxembourg, Lithuania, Slovakia, Faroe Islands and group 3 with hosts Italy, Romania, Kosovo and Georgia – will be staged from 10 to 12 January, parallel to the first weekend of the Men’s EHF EURO 2020. 

The qualification process for Egypt 2021 will be different from previous campaigns. Defending world champions Denmark are already qualified, and the three best-ranked teams of EHF EURO 2020 will also book a direct ticket.

Nine more spots are reserved for European teams. The four group winners from qualification phase 1 advance to an intermediate stage alongside the EHF EURO 2020 teams that are not participating in the 2020 Olympic qualification tournaments – and they will meet in two-legged play-off ties on 15/16 and 18/19 April.

The 10 winners of those duels and the eight teams from the Olympic qualification tournaments will lock horns in a final play-off in June 2020.

TEXT: Björn Pazen / jw