12.07.2021, 07:00
Six days to find Europe’s best on the beach

PREVIEW: The EHF Beach Handball EURO 2021 in Varna continues Tuesday with the men’s and women’s championships

Sweden and Hungary celebrated in Varna last Sunday, who is next?

Two days after Sweden claimed the men’s 17 and Hungary the women’s 17 title, the senior teams are ready to take the sand courts at the Beach Handball EURO 2021 from Tuesday.

Six action-packed days in the largest resort on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast will determine this year’s European beach handball champions.

Denmark took both the men’s and the women’s title in 2019 – can the Scandinavians deliver again? Or will record four-time men’s champions Croatia regain the trophy for the first time since 2015? And what about Hungary’s women’s team, who won two of the last four European titles?

All questions will be answered between Tuesday and Sunday, when 18 men’s and 17 women’s teams will find out who the best on the beach is. All matches will be shown live on EHFTV.

18 men’s national teams vie for glory

In the men’s competition, defending champions Denmark share group A with Norway, 2017 champions Spain, Romania, and Turkey.

In the other five-team group, Hungary, Greece, Italy, France, and Ukraine are battling it out for the coveted main round spots.

Hosts Bulgaria meet four-time European and two-time world champions Croatia, Poland, and Sweden in group C.

Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, and twice gold medallists Russia (2004, 2007) complete the line-up in group D.

17 teams go for gold in women’s event

In the women’s competition, Denmark start the defence of their title against hosts Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, and Ukraine, the first ever European beach handball champions in 2000.

The other three groups consist of four teams each.

Group B is an eye-catching mixture of four former champions: Norway (2017), Italy (2009), Hungary (2013, 2015), and Croatia (2007, 2011).

Netherlands are set to take on Romania, 2006 champions Germany, and Portugal in group C.

And in group D, two-time former winners Russia (2002, 2004) meet reigning world champions Greece, Poland, and France.

In both competitions, the three best-ranked teams from each group advance to the main round, which is set to start on Thursday. The quarter- and semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday, followed by the medal matches on Sunday.

Widespread coverage on EHFTV, social media, and TV

The Beach Handball EURO 2021 gets widespread coverage on the various EHF channels.

The matches on all four courts in Varna are streamed live on EHFTV.

The Home of Handball social media channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Twitch as well as live blogs and features on eurohandball.com will keep all beach handball fans up to date throughout the events.

Also, fans in 44 territories around the world will be able to tune in and watch the games with 13 broadcasters televising the action from Varna live to their homes.

TEXT: EHF / Eric Willemsen