EHF Under20 Championship - European Hattrick Federation

NEWS

10.2.2019 Turkey are the new U20 European Champion

On the first of February in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway was played the final of the EHF Under 20 Championship. Estonia faced Turkey on the Nakkelaget Campus in front of 30163 spectators.

Both teams haven't met since 2017 when in a friendly match Estonia have beaten Turkey 5-0, but when it comes to official matches Turkey have won two out of two in the U20 World Cup XV qualifiers, although they've finished after their opponents with 3 points less in the group.

Now just 4 minutes after the first whistle Estonia were one goal up thanks to Kaarel Niitsoo who scored after a counter attack. However Estonia weren't too comfortable with their formation and after 32 minutes Turkey equalized. The first half looked like it will finish as a draw, but a quick fire double for Turkey in the 44th minute meant that insaatci-itu's team go in the dressing rooms with a 2 goal advantage.

In the second half Turkey made a couple of changes and adopted a more defensive formation. In the 58th minute a perfect free kick by Salih Zerka made it 1-4 for Turkey and in the dying moments of the match Gürdal Yücalan scored the fifth goal for Turkey and his fourth in the competition.

Estonia lost a second final in the tournament's history after in Season 3 they lost from France 0-8 and Turkey have claimed their first U20 European title.

Winner: Turkey

Runner up: Estonia

EHF Golden Player: Gürdal Yücalan

EHF Golden Boot: Utku Feraset - 5 goals

EHF Golden Glove: Antonino Leprini - 4 clean sheets

Now I want to thank Norway for being hosts of the competition, special thanks to Botun . Congratulations to Turkey and insaatci-itu for becoming the new U20 European champion and well done matu_ for bringing Estonia to the final. Good luck to all nations that still play in the World Cup and hope to see you around in the upcoming seasons of the EHF competitions.

For me it's been a pleasure organizing the tournament for the 6th time and I'll see you in less than a month for the 5th Season of the NT Euro :)

8.7.2018 Liechtenstein have done it in front of their fans!

Two weeks the final of the 5th EHF Under 20 Championship in Liechtenstein was played and surprisingly or not it was between the hosts Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.

The hosts went into the game as favourites having the home advantage, but Luxembourg had their hopes too. The match started well for Liechtenstein with Rico Hasler netting the opener after 11 minutes. Their celebrations lasted only 4 minutes when Robi Erpelding equalized. The first half finished like this after the Liechtenstein missed on two occasions, Matt in the 20th and Wohlwend in the 37th minutes.

In the second half Liechtenstein came out of the dressing rooms to get that goal which could be the difference between both teams after they were having more posession in the first half. Both teams introduced some fresh leggs in midfield and Heimo Matt missed the target with a header in the 77th minute.

It looked like the game will finish as a draw but Rico Hasler left it late when he scored a quick fire double in the 80th and 81st minutes to complete his hattrick and to bring the European title to Liechtenstein. The match ended 3-1 for the hosts and the whole stadium was celebrating their first international title.

In a match for the 3rd place Hungary have beaten Serbia 4-1 and got the Bronze.

Awards
Winners: Liechtenstein (-zico- )

Runners up: Luxembourg (Dr-Klaus )

Third place: Hungary (sdg12 )

EHF Golden Player: Rico Hasler (Liechtenstein)

EHF Golden Boot: Cédric Kersch (Luxembourg) - 6 Goals

EHF Golden Glove: Sergej Branimirović (Serbia) - 5 Clean sheets

Thank you everybody for participating and respecting the rules of this friendly tournament. Thank you Liechtenstein for being our host and congratulations for winning the competition :)

Now we'll take a short break and enjoy the rest of the U20 World Cup and we'll be back in August for the NT EHF Euro so for all the fans of the international football, follow the World Cup forum as soon we'll be opening the new thread for the NT EHF Euro!

Thanks all and good luck with your hattrick careers!

18.4.2018 Group stage draw

The group stage draw will be held on Thursday evening. The results of the draw and the schedule with the assigned stadiums will be published on the website first and then I will post them here as well.

The draw will be announced by 21:00 CET the latest.

We're set to organize some games for the community as well and those will be announced this weekend so get ready for supporter giveaways :)

6.4.2018 Liechtenstein to host the 5th EHF Under 20 Championship

Liechtenstein won the vote to become the host of the fifth edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship. The other participiants in the vote Slovakia and Hungary didn't receive any votes.

The stadiums where the games will be played will be announced in the upcomming weeks.

It seems we won't have a qualifying draw this season and we will allow 1 non-EU country to join the competition, so the first registration of a national team will get a wildcard spot for the group stage.

2.4.2018 Vote for the host

3 nations have applied to host this 5th edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship. Now it's time for the U20 coaches of the participating nations to decide which country will win the vote.

Applied hosts:
1. Slovakia
2. Liechtenstein
3. Hungary

Every host country could post here something to try and win the vote (eg. a game their community will be organizing, a logo, a mascot, free beer for all participating coaches etc.)

We'll be counting the votes only of the coaches, the other posts will be considered as a shoutout for the favorite country :)

Voting closes on Thursday 19:00 and later the winner will be announced.

27.3.2018 Apply for a host country

As always we open the sign up for a host country as well. In order to apply for a host you need to have 16 stadiums. You can submit your applications by a HT message to the EHF organizer and next week U20 coaches will vote for the host country.

Advantages for the hosts will be that all games will be played in the host nation which means home advantage in all matches (if that matters at all for a friendly tournament). The host nation won't play qualifications as well if it's a low ranked country.

Apply now!

Applications will be received by the end of the week

24.3.2018 Season 5 signup is open

We're very happy to announce another edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship.

Start date of the qualifications is 13 April and the deadling to sign up is 1 week earlier on 6 April at 00:00 CET.

The draw for the qualifications will be held on 6 April at 22:00 CET right after the last round of the World Cup qualifiers has been played. The group stage draw will be 2 weeks later - 20 April 22:00 CET.

If you are an EU U20 coach and would like to sign up your national team for the competition, you can do it in the thread in the World Cup forum.

19.11.2017 EHF Under 20 Championship awards

As you already know Ukraine became the new U20 European Champion after beating Greece on the final match on Friday. Now it's time to announce the awards such as Golden Boot winner, EHF Golden Player award and the Team of the season.

EHF U20 European Champion
Ukraine

Runner up
Greece

EHF Golden Player
Artemiy Golovizin - Ukraine

EHF Golden Boot
Raphael 'Road Runner' Heitz - Switzerland - 7 Goals

EHF Team Of The Season
GK
Adam Schibi - Switzerland

DEF
Georgi Trifonov - Bulgaria
Yiorgos Tiropitopoulos - Greece
Alfio Nefasto - Italy

MID
Oleg Konin - Kazakhstan
Ploutarchos Delagrammatikas - Greece
Pancho Gatov - Bulgaria
Nikolaos Kechagioglou - Greece

FWD
Nikos Foukas - Greece
Innocent Adjorlolo - France
Artemiy Golovizin - Ukraine

In the next few days we'll open a new thread for the EHF NT Euro which will be next season and the season after we'll be back with another edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship.

Respect for all the managers who participated and the ones who followed the competition. See you next time :)

17.11.2017 Ukraine is the new U20 European Champion!

On the final match of the EHF Under 20 Championship in Malta, Ukraine met Greece in a game where one team was fully focussed on the competition and the others might have been thinking about the upcoming matches from the III Round of the World Cup.

Ukraine coach Axl--Rose has focussed on defending in this one relying on counter-attacks and his opponent gkon13 from Greece decided that attack is the best form of deffence and rolled out a 4-4-2 formation. That helped the Greeks to dominate possesion and create 10 chances compared for only 5 for Ukraine.

However football is a game of goals and possession doesn't win you games as they say sometimes. In the 36th minute Sergiy Fateev scored a header after a corner and put Ukraine in the lead. In the second half more missed chances followed for both teams which led to the game being a low scoring one and Fateev's header proved to be the winner in it.

EHF congratulates Ukraine and their coach Axl--Rose for winning the title in that friendly tournament. Congratulations for gkon13 and the Greeks for the hard-fought battle in this tournament and we all wish them good luck in the upcoming matches from the World Cup.

In the next few days we'll announce the individual awards and the team of the tournament and also the opening of the signup for the EHF NT Euro.

11.11.2017 Greece against Ukraine on the final

After the semi-finals have been played this Friday, next week we'll find out who will be the winner of the 4th edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship.

Greece managed to win their semi-final match against Bulgaria with 3-1. In that match they've managed a complete comeback after they were trailing behind after 26 minutes when Atanas Toshev opened the scoring for Bulgaria. In 34 and 37 minutes Adam Mpourantakis made a quick fire double and turned it around for Greece. Nikos Foukas made the final score in the 63rd minute giving Greece 2 goals advantage which they held until the 90th minute.

The other semi-final was even more dramatic where Switzerland faced Ukraine. Fedir Khrennikov gave Ukraine the lead at the end of the first half. In the second one Switzerland managed to equalize thanks to Kari Enzler, but in the 78th it was again Khrennikov who put Ukraine in the lead. Raphaël 'Road Runner' Heitz equalized again for Switzerland 4 minutes before the end meaning that the sorting rules for the knockout stage had to kick in. In fact it was down to the random to decide who will face Greece on the final as both Switzerland and Ukraine had equal amount of points, goal difference in the group stage and were 1st in their groups.

The final will be played on 17 November on Estádio do Bonfim in Malta!

14.10.2017 2 weeks break before the quarter-finals

As things stand now the quarter-final pairs have been drawn just before we head out for a 2 weeks break from European football when we'll focus on the second round of the World Cup.

Hungary, France and Ukraine are not involved in the World Cup so they'll be preparing for the next round of eliminations from the European championship.

In our Quiz game we have a leader Triumfues, who's staying in the top of the table for points since Round 2 of the group stage. There are still 3 gameweeks to be played in the game and 291 points to be distributed between managers, so there's everything to play for.

We're still awaiting for a second winner of the youth player loterry. Remember 10 credits for the one who pulls a youth player who is 15 years old and 99 days!

30.9.2017 Technical issues with the site

Hello all,

due to some technical issues the matches for the Round of 16 on the website were not correct.

Here is the correct list of the matches which will be later updated on the site as well:

Kazakhstan - Singapore
Greece - Philippines
Bulgaria - Scotland
Denmark - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hungary - Italy
Moldova - Switzerland
Czech Republic - France
England - Ukraine

If you already sent a challenge to a wrong opponent please cancel it and send it to the correct one from the above list.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

22.9.2017 Bulgaria, Switzerland and Denmark made it through to the Round of 16

After the second round of the group stage of the EHF Under 20 Championship has been played, three nations have qualified for the Round of 16 already and they'll have the chance to train in the last matches from that stage.

In Group E Bulgaria have continued their strong form with a second win in a row after beating the Czech Republic with 4-0. This means now that the Bulgarian team has a goal difference of 10-0 and they'll be playing the last placed team Slovenia in their last match from the group. The other two teams from the group Sweden and the Czech Republic will be battling for the second spot which will give them the chance to play in the knockout stage.

In Group F Switzerland have beaten the Philippines and they're now top of the group with two wins as well and a goal difference of 8-1. In the last match from the group stage Switzerland will face Albania who still have a chance to get up to second if they win and the Philippines win with one goal less or draw against the Netherlands. There's everything to play for those three in Group F as Switzerland will be preparing for the knockout stage.

Denmark is the last nation which has won the chance to play in the knockout stage. With two walkovers in that group it looks like England could be the other team to join Denmark for the Round of 16 if Belgium don't arrange their match in the third round. However both England and Belgium have the chance to get in the Top 2 of the group so it will be good if the match could be played.

19.9.2017 A new round of the youth player lottery

It's time for the second round of the game we launched last week, where you can pull a player and win an amazing prize. Last week we gave away a 1 month HT Supporter to chipiss from Greece.

This week the prize is different. The first manager who pulls a player who is 15 years and 99 days old will win 10 credits!

If you pull the player you can share that in our forum.

11.9.2017 Pull a youth player and win a supporter!

With the EHF Youth Championship now officially started we would like to announce our first game for the fans.

You can feel free to copy this message to your local forums as everyone can participate in the game.

Rules
The rules are very simple. The first manager who pulls a youth player at 15 years and 83 days will win a 1 month gold supporter.
If you pulled the player post it here asap as someone might be quicker :)

The main goal of this game is to encourage managers to pull a youth player every week and to encourage them to develop 15 year old players in the academies.

After the first prize is won we'll announce another number for the "lottery"

3.9.2017 Philippines manager Starbyte will give some new players a chance before the Under 20 Championship begins

We had an interview with Philippines manager Starbyte after his team qualified to the group stage of the EHF Under 20 Championship. For the Philippines national team there is a friendly with Benin and we asked Starbyte some questions about the upcomming game.

1. What are your expectations from this match? You got a walkover against Lithuania. Could this make your team too confident against Benin U20? How do you prepare your team against overconfidence?

Honestly we were surprised that our game in Lithuania got cancelled. Some players went already to Europe. We have even two U20 players which are playing in Lithuania. If all of them can fly back to Cebu is still open. Most probably we will see some new faces playing against Benin.
The Filipinos are team player, our star is the team. So I'm not worried that the player are over confident. We want to win this game and show that we have learnt from our mistakes in the Lithuania game where we missed too many good chances. But anyway we will have a lot of fun. As you know the tourism slogan "It's more fun in the Philippines". This is true, we take it with a little more humour as others.

2. Do have any players in Benin U20 squad that you should take a closer look? Maybe a extra-terrestrial set piece taker, that your scouts have maybe missed?

Our resources are limited, so we could not collect all information to Benin already. Most probably we will invite them for a karaoke evening. This will help to get further insides. What we know already is that they have two brilliant keepers. Unfortunately we cannot use the man marker for them...

3. Who are your top players, and do expect them to win this game for you?
Do you support single individual approach or do you want more all around team work?

As mentioned previously our strength is the team work. Everybody runs for everyone. Of course we have brilliant individual players in our team which could play also easily for a big nation. But at the end we win and lose as a team.

4. What are the best qualities your team has to offer, towards the next phase of this tournament? There are still games left..

We are glad that we can participate in Malta. We had a very unlucky qualification round with a very good team. Also our new team has big potential even the fitness is not at the level I would wish. Furthermore some of our players are still studying and in Asia are the semester exams in September/October. Means maybe not all our best players will be able to participate but we do not travel to Malta only for fun.

Thank you for this interview and good luck in upcoming game.

Thank you, it was a pleasure.

2.9.2017 Pilipinas in the groups

The Philippines are the first non-European team to join the EHF Under 20 Championship Group stage.

The information has been confirmed today by the EHF Organizing Committee after their opponent in the Qualifying round Lithuania have booked a friendly against Portugal next week.

Philippines won with 1-0 in the first leg and now will be getting the 5-0 walkover result which means that they'll qualify with 6-0 on aggregate.

We would like to inform the Philippines U20 Coach that they're free to book a friendly for 8 September and wish them good luck in the Group stage!

1.9.2017 Singapore with a big step towards the U20 Group stage

I the first leg of the qualifying round for the EHF Under 20 Championship in Malta we had 5 matches. The overall result was 2 wins for the European sides and 2 wins for the non-EU sides.

The Philippines and Cuba managed minimal wins against Lithuania and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 1-0. On the other side Wales and Montenegro managed 2-0 victories against Senegal and Pakistan.

In the 5th game Jamaica faced Singapore in the non-EU qualification. The game started very well for Singapore scoring 2 early goals. Jamaica got one back after 21 minutes and with 73% possession it looked like they can turn it around in the second half. However it was Singapore who got the next goal which turned out to be the final one for the match and the game finished 1-3 for Singapore.

In the post match interview Singapore manager jasonwerty explained how important is for him to qualify and have more competitive games during the friendly season: "I would say very important as I think this competition is very well organized and I would like to be part of it. Being in a friendly competition can let me exercise my brain a bit more on the tactical aspect of the game to try and win rather than just playing aimless friendly matches."

About the upcoming competition and if it will attract more people into national teams jasonwerty said: "That will be hard to say....friendly season is a notorious time where people tune out of national teams and focus on their club matches. A lot will depend on how enthusiastic the crowd is on bragging rights!"

1.9.2017 The first leg of the qualifying round kicks off tonight

37 countries signed up for the 4th edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship. Today the first leg of the qualifying round kicks off at 20:00 CET.

We have 10 countries fighting for 5 spots in the final tournament in Malta. 4 European sides will meet 4 non-European sides and we'll have at least one non-EU country in the group stage for sure as Jamaica will meet Singapore in one of the matches.

Here's what we have in store for tonight:
Jamaica - Singapore
Philippines - Lithuania
Cuba - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pakistan - Montenegro
Senegal - Wales

Show us how do you support your team by sending us a picture to our Facebook page using the hashtag #EHFU20Malta

26.8.2017 Denmark have left Finland outside the World Cup

Late drama in Qualifying group 14 last night when Finland were beaten by Denmark in front of their own fans with 2-3. The Red Dynamite started well and opened the scoring in the 4th minute and that was the only goal in the first half with possession even between both teams.

The second half started well for Finland and they managed to turn it around with 2 quick goals in the 49th and 50th minute of the match. It was all looking good and the fans were singing until Regnar Bl?sild made it level in the 65th minute and 9 minutes before the end Gosta Vikberg's goal meant that Suomi won't be travelling to the US next season.

Denmark manager, Saftevand, stated post match, that this has been the most exciting match in his career.

Both teams will participate in the EHF Under 20 Championship and who knows, maybe Finland could have a revenge over Denmark in Malta.

25.8.2017 Malta announced as EHF Under 20 Championship Host

After a vote between the U20 NT coaches Malta has been chosen as a host country of the 4th edition of the EHF Under 20 Championship.

Malta hosted Group G of the 3rd EHF Under 20 Championship but didn't manage to qualify for the Round of 16 which is their best performance so far in the competition. In Season 20 they managed to qualify after finishing second in their group but they were knocked out in the Round of 16 after finishing 1-1 with England and the English side having better stats in the group proceeded to the Quarter-Finals.

Will the home advantage help Malta to beat their own record in the competition? Are they gonna make it to the Quarter-Finals or even further this time?

Results of the vote are following:
Malta - 10 votes
Czech Republic - 6 votes
Both countries and Malta taking the finals - 1 vote

25.8.2017 Signup closed!

We have 37 countries signed up for the competitions (31 EU and 6 non-EU). We'll have 5 qualifying matches which will be played in the upcomming 2 weeks before the groupstage draw.

Qualifying round 1st leg - 1 Sep
Qualifying round 2nd reg - 8 Sep

In the qualifications will participate 4 of the lowest ranked EU teams and all non-EU teams.

We'll announce the Host and the qualifying matches once the NT matches tonight end and the ranking is updated.

24.8.2017 Czech Republic vs Malta

Two countries have applied for the Hosting competition of the 4th EHF Under 20 Championship.

All national team coaches can vote for the host country. They need to choose between the Czech Republuc (Host of the first edition of the tournament and Winners of Season 1) and Malta (Host of one group from Season 3), or they can choose the option for both countries to share the competition and pick a host for the final stage.

Voting will be until the end of the National team matches on 25 August.

Signup closes at the start of the National team matches on 25 August.

20.8.2017 There will be qualifications

We now have more than 32 countries which confirmed their participation and that means that there will be a two legged Qualifying round.

In the Qualifying round the lowest ranked teams will play two matches - one home and one away match.

We will announce how many matches we'll have in the qualifications once the signup has been closed on 25 August.

19.8.2017 France confirmed participation

The current Under 20 European Champions France have confirmed their participation in the 4th EHF Under 20 Championship.

The French team will miss the World Cup in the US next season and the EHF Under 20 Championship will give them the chance to save their campaign.

The signup will be open until 25 August and there are still free places.

12.8.2017 Hosting competition

All games from the competition will be played in one or several countries. You can sign up your country for the hosting competition. You just have to nominate 16 stadiums from your country. The stadiums must be at least with 35 000 capacity. Additional work is also accepted (mascot, video etc.)

Applications will be received untill 24 August. The official host of EHF Under 20 Championship will be announced on 25 August.

To apply for a host please contact sstefan!

CALENDAR

Qualification

Qualifying round - 12 July

Group stage

Matchday 1 - 19 July
Matchday 2 - 26 July
Matchday 3 - 2 August

Knockout phase

Round of 16 - 9 August
Quarter-finals - 16 August
Semi-finals - 6 September

Final

Final - 13 September

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

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