EHF Euro - European Hattrick Federation

NEWS

12.1.2020 Vygaudas Eidininkas grabs a hattrick as Lithuania wins their second European title

The first Friday of the 2020 year had to offer the final match of the sixth EHF European Championship. The game between Lithuania and Georgia was played in front of 26309 spectators on the National Arena Park in Moldova.

The match started well for Lithuania and they were leading after 14 minutes thanks to Eidininkas's first goal of the game. Georgia had missed two big chances to equalize before Eidininkas scored his second in the 31st minute. It wasn't getting any better for Georgia when Kenia and Dgebuadze limped off with injuries before the half time whistle.

In the second half Vygaudas Eidininkas finished a counter attack to complete his hattrick. Vitenis Jačkonis also bagged a brace to make final score 5-0.

Post match Lithuania coach topsportas prized his assistant coach saying that he's "the real winner". Topsportas also added that his team deserved the win although the result was way too big.

2.1.2020 Lithuania - Georgia (Preview)

The 6th edition of the EHF Euro is about to finish tomorrow when Lithuania face Georgia in the final match on National Arena Park in Moldova. Both teams have made it to the final thanks to their performance in the group stage as the semi-finals finished with 1-1 draws last Friday.

Lithuania finished first in their group collecting 6 points. There was a draw on the first paragraph with Greece as they had 6 points in the group as well, but they were second after Russia in Group D and that meant that Lithuania will have a chance to win a second European title after the one in season 3 when they've beaten Sweden 0-2 on the final.

On the other end Georgia knocked out France in the semi-final and again it was down to the position in the group stage as both teams were on 7 points, but Georgia won their group and France finished second after Turkey in Group E. This will be their first final in the history of the EHF European Championship.

With both teams already eliminated from the World Cup, this is a chance to get a piece of silverware and get to a positive start of the 2020 Year. It's very dificult to say which team goes into the match as favourites and it promises to be a very interesting game for the neutrals as it could go either way.

25.5.2019 Dimitris Saravakos brings the European title to Greece!

On Lambo Field in Győr the hosts Hungary faced Greece in the fifth EHF Euro final. The tactic of the Greeks was to sit back, let Hungary have more possession and try to break on the counter.

During the first half both teams missed to open the scoring on a coupe of occasions. Barna 'Bébé' Busa forced a save from Aspiotis and hit the post. It was all level at half time with Hungary having 63 percent possession.

After 55 minutes the quick Dimitris Saravakos was on the end of a counter-attack and scored the opener in the game to put Greece in front. Five minutes later Mod-rupi made a double change and a switch of the formation to apply even more pressure to their opponents. It seems that this had the desired effect with Busa missing another chance for Hungary. In the 67th minute the crowd exploded after Martin Csáky scored the equalizer. However only 4 minutes later a Greek counter was stopped with a foul by the Hungarian defence. Saravakos placed the ball down to take the free kick. He was booed by the whole stadium, but that didn't affect him as his power shot gave the keeper no chance and the small group of away fans went crazy. After the goal the away manager Hottestkiss made a double substitution and switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 which put the game to bed and Greece were crowned European Champions.

24.5.2019 Hungary - Greece (Preview)

We've reached the Final of the fifth edition of the EHF Euro. Hungary are the hosts for a second time in the tournament's history, after they've hosted Season 2, when a Final wasn't played and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia shared the title. Back then Hungary were eliminated in the quarter-final from Serbia and Greece lost from Bosnia and Herzegovina at the same stage. This was the best performance in the competition for the Greeks. Hungary on the other hand reached the 3rd place playoff in Season 1, but back then managed by alibi they lost with a walkover result from the hosts Russia.

The top two teams in terms of hatstats have made it to the final and Hungary have slightly the better stats and with the home advantage on their side they enter the final game as favourites for the title.

Hungary coach Mod-rupi is for the second time in charge of the national team. Previous time he reached the World cup final back in 2013, but lost it on penalties from Bulgaria. Now six years later he'll play another final, but this time for the European cup and he'll face another team from the Balkans. He was also in charge when Hungary hosted Season 2 of the Euro and as already said he only managed to reach the quarter-finals back then.

Mod-rupi's opponent Hottestkiss is managing the Greek National Team for a second time as well and his previous period as manager is the same as Mod-rupi's (09.10.2012 - 21.05.2013). During that period Greece finished bottom in Round IV - Group 2 in the World Cup XIX and reached the quarter-final of the EHF Euro Season 2.

Top scorer Adam Mpithas who has 4 goals to his name in the competition is expected to start for Greece. He's featured in the starting eleven in five games and came in as a substitute in one match, so he looks the favourite to grab the top scorer award if he adds to his tally.

Kick off 20:00 CEST!

10.5.2019 Last week of the World Cup Round 2

A reminder that after tonight's matches from the World Cup, next week we'll be back for the EHF Euro Semi-finals.

Hungary - Liechtenstein
Lithuania - Greece

Don't forget to arrange the games on the respective stadiums in Hungary.

Good luck to Liechtenstein who are the only nation from the semi-finalists that is still in the World Cup. A draw against Belarus would see them qualify for the next round.

23.3.2019 Hungary faces Belarus on the start of the EHF Euro

The hosts from Hungary will be facing Belarus on Stadio Tottonho in their opening match of the EHF Euro next Friday.

The other two teams from group A are Scotland and Bulgaria. Bulgaria, who will face Belarus in the second stage of the World Cup as well.

Hungary and Scotland didn't manage to qualify for the second stage of the World Cup, so they'll be looking for good results in the European championship, which comes as a second chance to fight for a medal. On the other hand Bulgaria and Belarus may be a bit more precautious and may be experimenting with new formations getting ready for the next stage of the World Cup.

8.3.2019 Signup closed!

We now have 32 nations signed in. The full list is here

We will now have 2 free weeks as there will be no qualifiers and on 22 March the groupstage draw will be held and announced.

We'll remind all NT coaches signed in for the competition when the draw is held to check their opponents and to start sending challenges.

Good luck!

7.3.2019 Hungary to host EHF Euro 5

As already stated host applications will be received until 6 March 22:00. Since only one country applied I'm delighted to announce the host country of the 5th edition of the EHF Euro - Hungary!

Signup will close tomorrow before the start of the last qualifiers for the World Cup.

So far 26 nations have signed up. If by the deadline we don't have 32 nations, the signup period will be extended and nations which are not members of UEFA will be allowed to join as well. Signup period will be extended until 32 teams are signed up.

28.2.2019 Hosting competition

As always you can apply for being a host of the tournament. The only requirement is to name 16 Stadiums from the host country.

Host applications will be received until 6 March 22:00 CET. Then there will be a vote between the NT coaches of the participating nations. The vote will be 24 hours, until 7 March 22:00 CET, when the host country will be announced.

Signup for the competition will close on 8 March 19:00 CET.

Qualifying rounds draw will be on 8 March 22:00 CET.

13.10.2018 Finland and France share the title

Three games and no winner between Finland and France and both managers agreed to share the title. The teams were in Group C where they finished on the top 2 spots with the same amount of points and it was that 1 goal advantage for France which allowed them to claim the first place in the group. The match between Suomi and Les Bleus in the group finished goalless.

On the final both teams played a very intense match with 4 goals in the last 5 minutes of regular time to make the final result 4-4. According to the rules the match had to be replayed but even on the replay nothing could separate both teams and managers reached an agreement to share the European Title.

Now for the second time in the tournament's history we have two winners after Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia shared the title in Season 2, now it's between Finland and France. So here are the awards summary after the end of the competition:

EHF European Champions:
Finland and France

Third placed teams:
Israel and Keniya

EHF Golden Boot:
Ron Itshaki - Israel - 5 Goals

EHF Golden Glove:
Vincent Gonnet - France - 5 Clean Sheets

That's about it for this season's edition of the EHF European Championship. For the first time we had 16 teams instead of 32, but I really hope that from next season we can go back to the 32 teams format :)

Now it's time for a short break and in a week or two, we'll be back with the EHF U20 Euro which will be next season, so NT/U20 fans and coaches, keep your eyes open for the new thread of the U20 Euro.

As always I want to say thank you to those who participated and respected the rules of this friendly competition. See you soon!

5.3.2018 Lithuania is the new EHF European Champion!

The final match on The Fortress in Wales was between Sweden and Lithuania. The game started better for Blågult and in the 5th minute Arvid Tuvlund was denied by the Lithuanian goalkeeper after a freekick. Until the end of the first half Lithuania missed a couple of chances and Sweden wasted one more, so it was goalless after 45 minutes.

Lithuania missed the target twice after the second half kicked off and Sweden had a chance from a counter-attack and it was Tuvlund again who failed to score. Right after that the opener came thanks to an attack down the right and at the end Mindaugas Račius was on the scoresheet. In the 79th minute Aigirdas Pržemeneckas put the game to bed after a brilliant assist from Jurikas Kasenkovas.

EHF European Champion
Lithuania

Runner up
Sweden

EHF Golden Boot
Salvys Kurlinkus (398492395)- 5 Goals

Congratulations to masterzy and Poppen_HT48 for reaching the final and thank you to all other managers who took part in the Welsh adventure called European Championship. Without your cooperation and friendly spirit, this tournament would not have been possible.

4.2.2018 Sweden and Switzerland go through thanks to good performances in the groups

Sweden and Switzerland are through to the semi-finals after both teams got a draw 2-2 against Georgia and 0-0 against France respectively.

Sweden were 2-0 down in their match against Georgia until the 71st minute of the game. Erik Stjernland got one back after a corner and 6 minutes before the end Niklas 'Junior' Flodskog got the leveller after a counter through the middle. That meant that we had to go back to the group stage where Sweden had 1 goal better goal difference than their opponents and that goal qualified them to the semi-final.

On the other quarter-final France met Switzerland. The game finished goalless which means Switzerland is through to the semi-finals as they have 7 points in the group stage compared to France's 6.

In the other two quarter-finals Ukraine and Lithuania got 3-0 wins against Austria and Bulgaria respectively and are through to the semis as well.

Now the tournament will make a 2 weeks break for the World Cup where both semi-finalists Sweden and Switzerland are still participating and we'll be back on the 23 February for the semi-finals.

6.1.2018 A one man show by Salvys Kurlinkus

In the first round of the EHF Euro group stage there was one star performer, who bagged the first hattrick of the tournament. His name is Salvys Kurlinkus and he helped Lithuania to get off to a flying start with a 4-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The divine skill of counter-attacks for Lithuania proved to be the key for their win. All goals in that game came from counter-attacks and the quick Kurlinkus was on the end of 3. The other goal was scored by the defender Blažiejus Vingiliauskas.

After this result Lithuania are top of Group D. In the other match of the group Iceland got a 1-0 win against Slovenia and are sitting on the second spot.

In Round 2 Lithuania will play against Iceland and Bosnia and Herzegovina will face Slovenia. Another star performance by Kurlinkus would mean that Lithuania will be very close to reaching the knockout stage.

29.12.2017 Ukraine grab a late winner to qualify for the Euro

Ukraine managed to beat Belarus with 2-1 at home in the second leg of the qualifying round and that meant that they've qualified for the Euro with more away goals scored.

The Yellow-Blues knew from the start, that a one goal win will get them through to the group stage, unless they don't concede more than one goal. The game started well for them and in the 6th minute of the match they've gone in front. The White Wings however equalized after 25 minutes since the start. Although Ukraine had 60% possession in the first half things weren't looking good for them and Belarus were very dangerous on the counter.

In the second half Ukraine NT coach introduced some fresh legs on the pitch to try and turn things around. It seems that it wasn't working out as Belarus missed a chance to take the lead after Sudarushkin failed to score. With only 8 minutes to go f0G2Y's men needed to hold on to the 1-1 result, but the lack of experience with the formation led to a confusion which allowed Ukraine deffender Kyrylo Kuzyk to burst through the Belarus defence and to score the goal which proved to be the winner and which qualified Nefor's men to the European Championship.

Here are all aggregate results from the qualifiers:
Norway 10 - 0 Portugal
Hungary 6 - 0 Finland
Northern Ireland 0 - 1 Liechtenstein
Kazakhstan 0 - 18 Israel
Belarus 4 - 4 Ukraine (1-2 away goals for Ukraine)
Albania 0 - 7 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Iceland 3 - 0 Croatia
Azerbaijan 3 - 4 Faroe Islands

29.12.2017 Can Liechtenstein do it in front of their own fans?

Northern Ireland will be traveling to Liechtenstein for the second qualifying leg for the 3rd edition of the EHF European Championship.

The first leg between both teams finished goalless on The Abusement Park in Northern Ireland. Now Liechtenstein will be facing the Green and White Army in front of their own fans and will be hoping to get the better of them and secure their ticket to Wales. Are we going to see another pressing game from RJoker or Liechtenstein will be dictating the play and create some chances to get a goal for their supporters? No doubt this will be one of the most balanced games in this season's qualifiers.

With less than 30 minutes until the start make sure you don't miss all the action from tonight as after the final whistle we'll have the group stage draw!

Follow all the matches live! Start time: 20:00 CET

23.12.2017 Iceland got the better of Croatia in the first leg

In the first leg of the EHF Euro Qualifiers Iceland had to face Croatia at home.

Iceland coach gun2211 opted for a 4-5-1 formation and his opponent djuka2008_ decided to use a 5-2-3 formation. The hosts were pressing the opposition everywhere on the pitch and Croatia were relying on counter-attacks.

The first half was dominated by Iceland and they've missed a few chances which led to counter-attacks for Croatia, but they failed to hit the target too. On half time gun2211 decided to change the formation to 3-4-3 and that paid off in the 50th minute when Iceland opened the scoring thanks to an attack from the left. The goalscorer was Þráinn Friðriksson.

However Friðriksson's goal was the only one in that game and Croatia will have to turn things around in the second leg when they'll be the hosts at La Valle del Diavolo in Pula.

Here are the other results from yesterday's qualifiers:
Norway 5 - 0 Portugal
Hungary 3 - 0 Finland
Northern Ireland 0 - 0 Liechtenstein
Kazakhstan 0 - 8 Israel
Belarus 3 - 2 Ukraine
Albania 0 - 4 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Iceland 1 - 0 Croatia
Azerbaijan 2 - 3 Faroe Islands

22.12.2017 Hungary face Finland on the road to Wales

5 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses and a total of 19 points for Hungary in Group 9 means that they need to go through the qualifiers to get a spot in the 3rd season of the EHF Euro. Last week they were drawn to play against another team which failed to qualify for the World Cup in Oceania - Finland. They managed to achieve 19 points in their WC qualifying group as well but finished 6th in the group compared to Hungary's 4th place.

Hungary will have the home advantage in the first leg as both teams will come out on the MinariKatlan Stadium in Budapest in less than 60 minutes.

The EHF Euro might be a good chance for both teams to save their campaign and achieve a good result at the end, as they won't have to worry about the World Cup.

Follow all matches live!

13.12.2017 Wales will host the 3rd official EHF Euro!

After we announced that Wales, Hungary and the Czech Republic will compete to become host of this season's EHF Euro, 14 NT coaches voted and here are the final results:

1. Wales - 7 Votes
2. Hungary - 4 Votes
3. Czech Republic - 3 Votes

With that said we'd like to ask the Wales NT coach to provide us with 16 stadiums by mail.

We're closing the signup as well and you can find all teams which signed up already here: (http://ehf.futbol/EHFEuro/Teams.aspx).

We'll have the 16 lowest ranked nations playing qualifications on 22 and 29 December. On Friday after the last qualifier for the WC has been played we'll announce the teams which will play qualifications and we'll draw the pairings and update them on the website.

11.12.2017 Time to vote

Since we opened the applications for host of the EHF Euro, 3 nations have applied. Now it's time to close the applications and announce the 3 candidates.

All NT coaches from nations who already signed up for the tournament can vote for the host country. The choice is between:

1. Wales
2. Hungary
3. Czech Republic

All NT coaches should submit their vote in this thread until 13 December 23:00 CET, when we're going to close the signup as well.

Good luck to all applied host countries

8.12.2017 Apply for host!

We're opening the applications for host country of this season's EHF Euro.

As usual every nation can apply to become the host and if more than one nations have applied the NT coaches will vote for their favourite. The host nation will have to nominate 16 stadiums from the country and that nation will have home advantage in all games.

If a low ranked nation becomes host, they won't play qualifications and they'll get straight to the group phase.

Applications will be accepted until 11 December at 23:00 CET. After that we'll launch a voting competition until 13 December and on 14 December we'll announce the host country.

So far 40 nations have signed up for the EHF Euro which means there will be 8 qualifying matches where the 16 lowest ranked teams will compete in a two legged qualifying rounds.

We'll be announcing the teams who will play qualifications on 15 December after the last WC qualifier. The qualifying round draw will be held then as well.

Signup closes on 13 December 23:00 CET

26.11.2017 Signup is now open!

Today we're opening the signup for the third edition of the EHF Euro!

So far Switzerland have won the title and Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have shared the title in the second season. Now we're about to see if another nation will enter the list of winners of the competition played right after the Qualifications for the World Cup!

Qualifications draw will be held on 15 December.

17.11.2017 Dates for the 3rd EHF Euro have been announced

Today the official dates for the 3rd EHF European Championship have been announced.

If there are more than 32 national teams who would like to participate there will be 2 legged qualifications played on 22 and 29 December.

The group stage will be played on 3, 12 and 19 January followed by the knockout stage on 26 January, 2 and 23 February and the final will be played on 2 March.

The sign up will open a few days after the EHF Under 20 Championship has finished (final will be played on 17 November)

CALENDAR

Qualification

Qualifying round - 1 November

Group stage

Matchday 1 - 8 November
Matchday 2 - 15 November
Matchday 3 - 22 November

Knockout phase

Round of 16 - 29 November
Quarter-finals - 6 December
Semi-finals - 27 December

Final

Final - 3 January

EHF Competitions
Club	National
EHF Pseudo Champions League	EHF Euro
EHF Europa Cup	Under-20
EHF Youth Championship

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