World Championship draw procedure released
The draw procedure for phase one of European qualification to the 2015 Women’s World Championship in Denmark has been released (download draw procedure).
Nine teams will qualify for the event through qualification from Europe, in addition to Denmark as organiser, and the winner of EHF EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia (or second placed team should Denmark win the European title).
Outside of Europe, Brazil also qualifies directly as the reigning world champions.
14 teams enter phase one
Four places are up for grabs to the second phase of qualification.
Competing for these places will be the naional teams of Austrian, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.
The federations of the teams in each group of phase one may decide to play their matches in the format of a tournament in one venue or on a home and away basis.
Matches will be played in two groups of four teams and two groups of three teams. The winner of each group qualifies for phase two.
Phase two knock-out round
Already qualified for the second phase play-off matches are the teams taking part in the EHF EURO 2014 in Hungary and Croatia: Croatia, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Netherland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine (14 teams out of the 15)
Phase two will be played in a knock-out system on a home and away basis, with first and second leg matches over two weekends (6/7 June 2015 and 13/14 June 2015).
The draw of the play-off matches will take place on the final weekend of the Women’s EHF EURO 2014 in Budapest/HUN on 21 December 2014.
Phase one draw seedings
The seeding to the different pots is based on the results of the 2014 EHF EURO Qualification.
POT 1: 7 teams (place 3 in 2014 EHF EURO Qual. Phase 2)
Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Iceland, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia, Turkey
POT 2: 4 teams - place 4 in 2014 EHF EURO Qual. Phase 2
Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Switzerland
POT 3: 3 teams - not qualified for 2014 EHF EURO Qual. Phase 2
Azerbaijan, Greece, Israel
Draw coverage
Full coverage of the event on Tuesday, 22 July 2014 at 11:00 hrs will be available at eurohandball.com via liveticker and there will be live tweeting @EHFMedia.
TEXT:
EHF / jjr