After the draws for the U15 and U17 European Championships, the draw for the Qualifications for the 2024 European Championships in Netanya (Israel) has been conducted in Sabadell today.
The qualifications will be held between June 23 and 25.
European Men’s Championships, Qualifications
Already qualified: Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Montenegro, Georgia (the top 8 from the 2022 European Championships) and Israel (host).
The four group winners and the three best second-ranked teams will advance to Israel.
The teams were sorted into pots according to the rankings at the European Championships in Split and the results in the qualifications for that tournament. The teams ranked 9th – 16th in Split (except host Israel, which was 12th in Split) and Lithuania were in the first two pots. Lithuania had the best results among the non-qualified teams. The other teams were in pots 3 and 4. The teams that were in the fourth pot didn’t play in the qualifiers for the 2022 Europeans.
GROUP A (host Netherlands): Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal.
GROUP B (host Malta): Germany, Malta, Ukraine, Bulgaria.
GROUP C (host Turkey): Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Great Britain.
GROUP D (host Slovenia): Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Finland.
The strongest group is, without any doubt, Group C, where Olympic champion Serbia will face Slovakia and Turkey, which are maybe the most quality teams in pots 2 and 3, respectively. Turkey will be coached by Serbian coach Dejan Jovovic, who is temporarily taking over the team for the qualification tournament. Serbia is the favorite, of course. Slovakia and Turkey are contenders for 2nd place, which doesn’t guarantee a ticket for Israel. Great Britain returns to the qualifications after several years of absence and can dream of surprises.
The Netherlands is a heavy favorite in Group A. It’s expected that Germany and Malta will battle for 1st place in Group B. Romania targets the top spot in Group D, but it mustn’t underestimate host Slovenia, which has made progress in the last few seasons
The best three ranked sides will be determined based on the points gained. If they are tied in points, the goal difference will be the following criterion, then the number of the scored goals in all matches and, finally, if they are still tied, precedence shall be given to the team having won the largest number of the matches. If there is still equality, a draw will decide the classification.
European Women’s Championships, Qualifications
Already qualified: Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Israel, France, and Croatia (the top 8 from the 2022 European Championships)
The number of participating teams at the women’s Europeans has increased from 12 to 16. The eight teams will advance from the qualifications to the Europeans in Netanya. Since Israel was among the top 8 in Split, all group winners and the 2nd-placed teams will qualify.
Fourteen teams entered qualifications, there will be two groups with three and two with four teams.
The teams were sorted into three pots. The teams that were ranked 9th – 12th in Split were in the first pot, the teams that played in the qualifications for Split were in the 2nd, and the teams that didn’t enter the qualifications for the 2022 Europeans were in the third line.
GROUP A (host Bulgaria): Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria,
GROUP B (host Romania): Romania, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden.
GROUP C (host Serbia): Serbia, Ukraine, Czech Republic,
GROUP D (host Portugal): Germany , Portugal, Finland, Great Britain.
All groups are of similar quality, but it’s clear that the teams in Groups A and C will have easier tasks, since there are only three teams in these groups and two from each will go to Israel.
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