Draw for the U21 WC 2017 qualification

Photo: eurohandball.com

Written by: Rasmus Boysen

The draw to the Men's U21 World Championship Qualification of Europe has been made at the EHF Office in Vienna.

The European Handball Federation received 33 entries for the qualification. However, with France, as the current men's U19 world champions, and Spain, Germany, Croatia and Norway, as the teams ranked first, second, fourth and fifth at the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2016, directly qualified, there are 28 teams vying for seven remaining spots at the final tournament.

These 28 teams has be drawn to 7 groups of four teams each from which only the respective first ranked team will qualify:

Group 1:
1. Netherlands
2. Russia
3. Italy
4. Latvia

Group 2:
1. Denmark
2. Sweden
3. Romania
4. Bulgaria

Group 3:
1. Poland
2. Portugal
3. FYR Macedonia
4. Turkey

Group 4:
1. Slovenia
2. Slovakia
3. Ukraine
4. Kosovo

Group 5:
1. Iceland
2. Serbia
3. Lithuania
4. Greece

Group 6:
1. Hungary
2. Czech Republic
3. Austria
4. Montenegro

Group 7:
1. Switzerland
2. Israel
3. Faroe Islands
4. Finland

The qualification will be played in a tournament format from 6 to 8 January 2017.

The playing dates for the Men's U21 World Championship in Algeria are 17 to 30 July 2017.