EHF EURO 2016 qualification draw

EHF EURO 2016 qualification draw  

The draw for the first qualification phase of the 2016 Men's EHF European Championship will be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco on 23 June 2012, during the EHF Congress, which takes place on 22 and 23 June.

A total of 38 nations teams have registered to compete in the Men's EHF EURO 2016 which will take place on 17 to 31 January 2016 in a nation yet to be selected.

Croatia, Norway and Poland are the three national federations bidding to host the EHF's flagship national team event. The decision will be made by the EHF Congress, with an announcment to be made on Saturday, 23 June.

New system for EHF EURO 2016

For the first time a new qualification system will be used for the EHF EURO, which will see Phase 1 played on a home and away basis in three groups of three teams.

The change is aimed at providing Europe's emerging handball nations with more high level national team matches, and an opportunity to promote the sport at home to fans and the media as well as national partners and sponsors.

Participating in Phase 1 Qualification are the following national teams; Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg.

Phase 1 will be played in October/November 2012, April 2013 and June 2013 respectively.

Qualifying for Phase 2

The three winners from Phase 1 will progress to a knock-out phase, where they will meet the three lowest ranked fourth placed teams from EHF EURO 2014 Qualification Phase 2 in two play-off matches, home and away, on 2/3 April 2014 and 5/6 April 2014.

The three winners of these matches go through to Phase 2 of qualification to EHF EURO 2016.

Draw procedure

The nine teams are seeded based on the EHF National Team Ranking valid for the EHF EURO 2016 (including the results of the EHF EURO 2014 Qualification Phase 1 and the results of the 2013 WCh ESP Qualification Europe Phase 1):

Pot 1: Greece, Estonia, Finland
Pot 2: Italy, Cyprus, Belgium
Pot 3: Luxembourg, Great Britain, Ireland

Teams will be drawn, pot 3 to row 3, pot 2 to row 2 and pot 1 to row 1. 

The complete draw procedures can be downloaded here.

Follow the draw live

The draw can be followed via eurohandball.com and the LIVE TICKER pop-up.

The EHF Media and Communications team will also be tweeting live from the draw and throughout the EHF Congress via the @EHFMedia Twitter Channel.