Bosnia and Herzegovina first to qualify for World Championship Play-offs

By recording their fifth straight victory in the European World Championship Qualification Bosnia and Herzegovina became the first team to qualify for the European play-offs.

The Bosnian team needed only one more point to advance, but they eventually made it 'double-clear' and beat Estonia 28:26 on Wednesday.

Only the five group winners of this first qualification stage advance to the play-offs where they will meet 12 participants of the EHF EURO 2014 plus Germany to eventually decide nine European participants for the World Championship in Qatar.

The decision in Groups 1, 2 and 4, however, is left until the final Round 6 that will be played on 11 and 12 January 2014.

The Group 3 matches in Round 5, Ukraine vs. Luxembourg and Switzerland vs. Slovenia, will be played on 9 January. All matches can be followed via the EHF live ticker.

Lithuania only needed one more point to advance in Group 1, but a 23:26 loss against Georgia makes this group look a tiny bit more open than it was before.

However, one point in Lithuania's last match against Turkey will still be enough for the Baltic nation.

As expected Romania (34:29 against Italy) and Slovakia (20:18 against Cyprus) won their Round 5 matches in Group 2 and will decide this group in their direct encounter on 11 January.

Greece beat Netherlands 24:19 and Israel beat Belgium 27:25 in Group 4 which makes them top the group with six points each.

However, as Netherlands and Belgium have four points each and a home match in Round 6, this group could end up with the unusual situation of all four teams being on six points.