The men’s European qualifications for the World League Super Final will start on 12 November. Twelve teams will take part and they were drawn into four groups.
Serbia, the Olympic champion and 2019 World League winner, and Croatia, the runner-up in both competitions and the bronze medalists at this year World Championships, were drawn into the same group, along with the Netherlands
Men’s World League, European Qualifications
Groups
A group: Greece, Italy, Georgia.
B group: Hungary, Russia, France.
C group: Netherlands, Serbia, Croatia.
D group: Montenegro, Ukraine, Spain.
The competition system is different than in previous years, because of a packed schedule in the Olympic year. The series of competitions for national teams will begin already in January, with the European Championships in Budapest, while the Olympic qualification tournament will be played in March.
The group stage of the European World League preliminaries consists of just three competition days. Each team will play one home and one away game.
After that, the group winners and the 2nd-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The best 4 European teams will qualify for the Super Final, along with top 4 teams at the Intercontinental tournament, which will be held in the USA (28 April – 3 May).
If a host country is a European country, then that team will automatically be a participant of the Super Final, regardless of its placement in the qualifications. On the other side, if a non-European country is a host of the Super Final and that team doesn’t reach at least the 4th place at the Intercontinental Cup, only three European teams will qualify for the Super Final, that will be held in June (23-28 June)
European countries hosted the previous two Super Final tournaments (Budapest in 2018 and Belgrade in 2019).
Schedule
Game Day 1 (12 November 2019)
Group Phase
Greece – Italy (A group)
Hungary – Russia (B group)
Netherlands – Serbia (C group)
Montenegro – Ukraine (D group)
Game Day 2 (17 December 2019)
Group Phase
Italy – Georgia (A group)
Russia – France (B group)
Serbia – Croatia (C group)
Ukraine – Spain (D group)
Game Day 3 (11 February 2020)
Group Phase
Georgia – Greece (A group)
France – Hungary (B group)
Croatia – Netherlands (C group)
Spain – Montenegro (D group)
Game Day 4 (17 March 2020)
Quarterfinals
OF1: 1A – 2B
QF2: 2B – 2A
QF3: 1C – 2D
QF4: 1D – 2C
Game Day 5 (14 April 2020)
Semifinals
SF1: Winner QF4 – Winner QF1
SF2: Winner QF3 – Winner QF2
SF3: Loser QF4 – Loser QF1
SF4: Loser QF3 – Loser QF2
Game Day 6 (28 April 2020 – TBC)
Matches for the final ranking
Final
Game for 3rd-4th place classification
Game for 5th-6th place classification
Game for 7th-8th place classification
(the teams which finish in the last places in their groups will play in the classification for places 9th-12th)
