With five of the eight participants for the second qualification phase of the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship in Sweden and Poland already confirmed, six teams will fight in the last 10 matches for the three remaining spots in the play-offs in March.
In group 1, which is played in a format with home and away matches, Greece have already booked their ticket, while Turkey and Belgium are still in the race for the second berth.
From the two tournaments in groups 2 and 3 that have already been played, Finland, Estonia, Romania and Israel have qualified for the next stage.
The final tournament – group 4 – is taking place in Torshavn, Faroe Islands, from Friday until Sunday, and the two best ranked teams will proceed to the next stage.
GROUP 1
Kosovo vs Turkey
Wednesday 12 January, 19:15 CET
Greece vs Belgium
Thursday 13 January, 18:15 CET
Belgium vs Kosovo
Saturday 15 January, 20:15 CET
Turkey vs Greece
Sunday 16 January, 12:00 CET
- Greece have won all four matches, including the two thrillers against Kosovo last week (21:20, 26:25), to top the table with eight points
- Greece beat Belgium 29:27 and Turkey 24:20 in the first legs of this week's encounters
- after a 30:25 win and a 37:28 defeat against Belgium, Turkey are in second place with four points – but only one point ahead of Belgium
- the first match between Turkey and Kosovo was another close battle, which Turkey eventually won 25:23
- Kosovo have only one point from the draw against Belgium on their account and are already out of the race for the next stage
- if Belgium and Turkey have the same number of points at the end of round six, Belgium will proceed as they hold the head-to-head advantage against Turkey on aggregate
GROUP 4
Latvia vs Italy
Friday 14 January, 18:00 CET
Luxembourg vs Faroe Islands
Friday 14 January, 20:30 CET
Latvia vs Luxembourg
Saturday 15 January, 18 CET
Italy vs Faroe Islands
Saturday 15 January, 20:30 CET
Italy vs Luxembourg
Sunday 16 January, 16:30 CET
Faroe Islands vs Latvia
Sunday 16 January, 19:00 CET
- Latvia is the only team in this qualification round that participated in the EHF EURO 2020, where they lost against Germany, Spain and Netherlands
- when Latvia and Italy played in group 6 of the EHF EURO 2022 qualifiers, each team won one encounter
- Italy have not qualified for a major tournament since they hosted the EHF EURO 1998
- hosts Faroe Islands had a historic 27:26 win against EHF EURO 2022 participants Czech Republic in the EHF EURO 2022 qualifiers – their first win in this stage
- the constant improvement of the Faroe Islands is underlined by the fact that they lost a qualification match for the 2019 IHF Men's World Championship against Italy 29:18
- Luxembourg missed the final stage of the EHF EURO 2022 qualifiers after losing both matches against Estonia in the relegation round
- in the first phase of qualification for the 2021 IHF Men's World Championship, Faroe Islands beat Luxembourg 24:22
- Luxembourg had one victory and one defeat against Italy in phase one of the EHF EURO 2020 qualifiers
