Pots for Women's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers announced
The draw for the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers is approaching. And at 17:00 (CEST) on 20 April in Zürich, Switzerland, teams vying for a spot in the final tournament will learn their qualifiers group. In preparation for the event, the European Handball Federation has announced the draw procedure.
The final round of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 will be played with a total of 24 teams. A total number of 20 places will be decided via the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers.
At the Qualifiers draw a total of 31 teams will be drawn into seven groups of four and one group of three teams.
The teams are divided into four pots according to the respective EHF Women's National Team Ranking:
The pots only contain 31 teams due to the late withdrawal of the Great Britain national team.
Draw procedure
STEP 1: 7 teams of pot 4 are drawn to row 4
STEP 2: 8 teams of pot 3 are drawn to row 3
STEP 3: SRB is drawn to row 2 can not be drawn in group with KOS
STEP 4: 7 remaining teams of pot 2 are drawn to row 2
STEP 5: 8 teams of pot 1 are drawn to row 1
DOWNLOAD THE DRAW PROCEDURE PDF HERE
Qualification system
The first and the second ranked teams as well as the as the four best third ranked teams will qualify for the Women’s EHF EURO 2024. After the conclusion of the group matches of the eight groups, an overall ranking of those teams ranked third in each Qualifiers group will be established.
This ranking includes only the results of the four matches of third ranked teams against the two teams ranked first and second in the group. The results of the two matches against the teams ranked fourth in the group will not be considered. The four best teams from this ranking of the third ranked teams will also qualify for the final tournament of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024.
Up to a maximum of four lowest ranked teams of the 4th ranked teams in the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers are relegated to the promotion round, which will be played between these four teams and the winners of the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers Phase 1.
Basic match schedule
The Women’s EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers and the Women’s EHF EURO CUP 2024 will be played in three periods of two matches each (six rounds), as the playing schedule is based on four teams in each group. Match Schedule for group 8 will be defined in due time.
ROUND 1: Wednesday 11 – Thursday 12 October 2023
ROUND 2: Saturday 14 – Sunday 15 October 2023
ROUND 3: Wednesday 28 – Thursday 29 February 2024
ROUND 4: Saturday 2 – Sunday 3 March 2024
ROUND 5: Wednesday 3 – Thursday 4 April 2024
ROUND 6: Sunday 7 April 2024 (18:00 CEST)
Players' presence at the draw
Several stars will be present at the draw event in Zürich: Kerstin Kündig from the Swiss hosts and France's EHF EURO 2018 gold medallist Beatrice Edwige will be on-site. Furthermore, EHF EURO 2012 winner Jovanka Radicevic from Montenegro as well as three-time EHF EURO gold medallist Veronica Kristiansen from Norway will also be in attendance for the draw.
Final weekend amendments
At the final event, two preliminary-round groups will be each played in Basel (Switzerland), Innsbruck (Austria) and Debrecen (Hungary).
As the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 is the first to be organised with 24 teams, there will be six groups of four.
The main round will be played in Debrecen and Vienna, with two groups of six. Austria’s capital takes over the role from Budapest, where one main round group was initially scheduled to be hosted.
Draw details
Women's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers draw
20 April 2023, 17:00 CEST in the Sports Studio Swiss Television, Studio 6, Zürich, Switzerland.
The draw will be streamed live on EHFTV and YouTube. Geo-blocking may apply.
