Sweden triumph at M19 European Open

The fourth edition of the European Open tournament was played in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 04 and 09 July 2011, featuring the Men’s 19 category for players born in and after 1992.

22 teams competed for the championship plate, which was played in parallel with the Partille Cup. The Preliminary Round consisted of two groups of six and two groups of five teams with the two best teams of each group progressing to the Main Round, whilst the others moved in to the Intermediate and Challenge Round.

In the Main Round Group 1, host nation Sweden dominated. After bringing two points with them following their victory over Norway in the Preliminary Round, a victory over Montenegro and a close one-goal margin win over Switzerland in a real thriller secured them the top spot in Group 1. The runners-up position between Norway and Switzerland was already made in an early match, with the Swiss not showing any problems, defeating the Scandinavians by seven goals.

Main Round Group 2 saw closer results, with the team from Czech Republic defeating Belgium as well as Poland in the Preliminary Round. In the big duel for group victory the match with the Netherlands ended in a draw, which proved enough for both teams to qualify through to the final matches.

On the final day in the Scandinavium sports hall, crowded with over 5,000 spectators, Switzerland once more showed an impressive performance when they took Bronze after a dominant 3/4 placement match, which they won with an eleven goal margin over the Netherlands.

The final itself was an even more one-sided game, when after a four-goal lead at half-time over the Czech Republic, Sweden crushed their opponents by a merciless 15-goal margin to win 41-25.

Final Standing

GOLD - 1. Sweden
SILVER - 2. Czech Republic
BRONZE - 3. Switzerland
4. Netherlands
5. Norway
6. Poland
7. Montenegro
8. Belgium
9. Iceland
10. Belarus
11. Russia
12. Portugal
13. Israel
14. Estonia
15. Austria
(16. Qatar were disqualified, see here)
17. Slovakia
18. Romania
19. Hungary
20. Moldova
21. Finland
22. England

All star team

Best Goalkeeper: Nebojsa Simic (MNE)
Best Left Wing: Andreas Berg (SWE)
Best Left Back: Nick de Kuyper (NED)
Best Playmaker: Kevin Jud (SUI)
Best Pivot: Henrik Jacobsen (NOR)
Best Right Back: Harald Reinkind (NOR)
Best Right Wing: David Krahulec (CZE)

Top scorer: Alexander Dereven (RUS), 70 goals

Best defence player: Viktor Östlund (SWE)

Most valuable player: Nicolas Raemy (SUI)

Find all results from M19 European Open here.