Hosts face tough tasks at the Men’s U20 EHF EURO in July
Hosts face tough tasks at the Men’s U20 EHF EURO in July
Austria are not only the joint hosts of the current Men’s EHF EURO with Norway and Sweden, but will also co-host the U20 Men’s EHF EURO 2020 together with Italy. Innsbruck in Austria and Brixen in South Tyrol will be the host cities for the first-ever U20 EHF EURO in two countries from 2 to 12 July.
On Wednesday, the groups of the preliminary round were drawn by Austrian men’s national team players Lukas Hutecek (who will also be part of the Austrian U20 team in summer) and Thomas Eichberger, and German men’s team captain Uwe Gensheimer, alongside EHF Secretary General Martin Hausleitner.
After those players had drawn pots one to three, the U20 national team coaches for the two hosts had to choose their groups. While Austrian coach Roland Marouschek decided to join Iceland, Serbia and Norway in group A, Italian coach Giuseppe Tedesco chose group C with Croatia, Spain and Slovenia. Italy will play their preliminary round matches in Brixen and Austria will play in Innsbruck.
Sweden, France, Portugal and Russia will duel in group B in Innsbruck, while Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Israel are in group D in Brixen.
We know the groups of M20 EHF EURO 2020.
— EHF EURO (@EHFEURO) January 15, 2020
The competition will take place from 2 to 12 July in Austria and Italy and will be the occasion for us to see young talents of tomorrow in action. #followthefuture #ehfeuro2020 @HandballAustria @italyhandball pic.twitter.com/ksOlwJmt42
The respective winners and runners-ups of the groups proceed to the main round, the remaining eight teams will continue in the intermediate round for the positions 9 to 16. Teams from groups A and B will continue in Innsbruck, C and D in Brixen. The semi-finals will be carried out in Brixen, the final will be played in Innsbruck.
The draw event at Vienna was attended by International Handball Federation President Hassan Moustafa and EHF President Michael Wiederer.
“We will be eager to see the next generation of handball facing in Austria and Italy. You can see the development of young players in four top tournaments – two European and two world championships – before they switch to the men´s teams,” said Wiederer.
Gensheimer has a special relationship to U20 EHF EURO events in Innsbruck. In 2006, he became European champion with Germany there.
“It was a great experience, as this was a most important step for my career on the international stage. You face the best players of your age group and many of them I still face today,” Gensheimer said.
For Lukas Hutecek, 2020 will definitely be a year to remember for his whole life.
“I do not think that many players have the opportunity to play two European championships on home ground in the same year. This is supposed to be a great step for my personal future,” he said.
The preliminary round groups of the U20 Men’s EHF EURO (2 – 12 July)
Group A in Innsbruck: Iceland, Serbia, Norway, Austria
Group B in Innsbruck: Sweden, France, Portugal, Russia
Group C in Brixen: Croatia, Spain, Slovenia, Italy
Group D in Brixen: Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel
