Just one place remains at each the W17 and W19 EHF EURO 2023, and four nations are set to decide those tickets next week at a round-robin tournament, the ‘in-between competition’, in Belgrade.
The U17 teams from Serbia, Iceland, Slovakia and Slovenia will compete across three match days, interrupted by one rest day, to determine the places at both final tournaments in 2023. All games will be streamed live on EHFTV.
Initially, Austria were also among the participants, but they have withdrawn from the tournament due to travel restrictions amid the anti-coronavirus measures imposed by Austrian authorities.
Alongside the top 13 countries qualified based on their rankings are the W17 and W19 EHF EURO 2021, the Netherlands and North Macedonia clinched berths at the 2023 editions as winners of the W17 EHF Championships held in the summer of 2021.
In effect, the U17 teams competing at the four-nation tournament next week have the chance to qualify themselves for the W19 EHF EURO 2023 as well as gift their younger generation the spot at the W17 EHF EURO 2023.
The four countries to participate in this qualification tournament were determined based on rankings at the Younger Age Category events in 2021. Slovakia and Slovenia were ranked 15th and 16th (and Austria were 14th) at the W17 EHF EURO 2021 in Montenegro, while Serbia and Iceland were the runners-up at their respective W17 EHF Championships 2021.
The top-ranked team at the end of the in-between competition will book the final place at the two EHF EURO events in 2023. The competition was decided on as a fair way to allocate the last open spot and give the teams and equal chance to earn promotion to or stay on the EHF EURO level.
In-between competition — qualification to W17/W19 EHF EURO 2023:
All matches live on EHFTV
22 November
15:30 CET Slovenia vs Iceland
18:00 CET Slovakia vs Serbia
23 November
15:30 CET Iceland vs Slovakia
18:00 CET Serbia vs Slovenia
24 November
Rest day
25 November
15:30 CET Slovakia vs Slovenia
18:00 CET Serbia vs Iceland
