32 nations vie for a spot at the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden

32 nations vie for a spot at the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden

The race for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden (4 to 18 December 2016) is shaping up as the registration phase has come to an end.

Including hosts Sweden 33 teams have registered which means there will be a Qualification Phase 1 as well as a Qualification Phase 2.

Based on the current women’s national team ranking the teams from Finland, Azerbaijan, Israel, Bulgaria, Faroe Islands and Kosovo will play Phase 1.

They will be drawn to two groups of three teams each with the winner of each group advancing to Phase 2.

The draw will take place on either 23 or 24 March at the EHF Office in Vienna (download draw procedure). Qualification Phase 1 will be played in a tournament format from 12 to 14 June 2015.

15 open spots

The draw for Phase 2 will take place on 9 April in Kristianstad, Sweden (download draw procedure).

The following teams are already seeded for this phase:

Pot 1: Norway, Montenegro, Denmark, Hungary, Serbia, France, Spain

Pot 2: Germany, Romania, Poland, Russia, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Croatia

Pot 3: Slovakia, Ukraine, Iceland, FYR Macedonia, Turkey, Belarus, Austria

Pot 4: Slovenia, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Lithuania, Winner Phase 1 Group 1, Winner Phase 1 Group 2  

This second qualification phase will be played in three periods of two matches each in October 2015, March 2016 and June 2016.

The top two teams of each group as well as the best third ranked team from all groups qualify for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden