The EHF EURO 2024 relegation round includes the three highest-ranked teams from the IHF/EHF Trophy 2021 (Georgia, Cyprus, Bulgaria) as well as the lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams from the EHF EURO 2022 qualifiers (Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Latvia), while Luxembourg qualified directly for the relegation round.
One tie will take place this week as Georgia meet Finland. The match Latvia against Bulgaria was scheduled for Thursday but had to be postponed for Covid-19 reasons.
The other two double-headers, which feature a clash between Turkey and Cyprus and another between Luxembourg and Belgium, are set to be played from 19 to 22 January.
The four winning teams will advance to phase 2 of the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 qualifiers, which will be played between October 2022 and April 2023.
Georgia vs Finland
Wednesday 5 January, 19:00 CET, live on EHFTV
- Georgia failed to qualify from the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship qualification phase 1, finishing third in a group featuring Finland, Estonia and Great Britain. Finland finished first and progressed to qualification phase 2
- the sides met in the EHF EURO 2022 relegation round, with Finland emerging victorious with a clear 61:45 aggregate win, despite drawing in Georgia, 24:24
- neither Georgia nor Finland have qualified for the final tournament of the EHF EURO before
- in the past nine years, the two sides met in five competitive matches, with Finland taking two wins, Georgia winning once and two games finishing as draws
- the second leg between the two sides will take place in Vantaa, Finland, on 9 January
Latvia vs Bulgaria - the match has been postpond for Covid-19 reasons
This article was updated at 17:54 to reflect the postponement of the match Latvia vs Bulgaria.
