Women's EHF EURO 2016: 16 teams, one dream

The 16 teams participating at the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden got to know their respective preliminary round opponents as the final tournament draw was conducted in Gothenburg on Friday.

The event was hosted by Sweden's heptathlon 2004 Olympic winner Carolina Klüft and four players of participating teams - Sweden's Ida Oden, Poland's Iwona Niedzwiedz, Denmark's Line Jorgensen and Norway's Emily Stang-Sando have carried out the draw.

Defending champions Norway will face Russia, Romania and Croatia in Group D in Helsingborg, while hosts Sweden play against Serbia, Spain and Slovenia in Group A in Stockholm.

"We are hoping for a full arena, when we play and that the EURO will become a real handball festival. And what are our goals for the championship? We would love to go beyond main round," Sweden's right back Oden said.

"The group is OK. Spain are always good, with Serbia it is hard to say what kind of team will come, but if they have their best players it will be tough. Slovenia we played quite recently and it should be a feasible task."

World Championship 2015 silver medallists Netherlands were drawn to Group B in Kristianstad alongside France, Germany and Poland. Group C in Malmö consists of Montenegro, Hungary, Denmark and Czech Republic.

"We hope we will continue to the main round. Our group is almost the same as at the last year's World Championship where we lost both against Montenegro and Hungary. We have a chance, but it will be difficult," Denmark's right back Line Jorgensen commented the draw.

"We know it takes a lot of work to bring Denmark back to the top, but we will do all what we can," the reigning EHF Champions League winner with CSM Bucuresti added.

These are the preliminary round groups at the Women’s EHF EURO 2016:

The Women’s EHF EURO 2016 will take place from 4 to 18 December 2016. Following the Women’s EHF EURO 2006 this is the second time that Sweden hosts the EHF’s flagship women’s national team event.

The first three teams of each group qualify for the main round. The teams from Groups A and B move to Main Round Group I, the teams from C and D to Main Round Group II. The two top-ranked teams from each group then qualify for the semi-finals.

Host cities and venues

The preliminary round will be played in Stockholm (Group A), Kristianstad (Group B), Malmö (Group C) and Helsingborg (Group D). For the main round the tournament will move to Gothenburg (Group I) and Helsingborg (Group II)

The arenas selected for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 are the Hovet in Stockholm with a capactity of 8,094, the Kristianstad Arena (4,700), Malmö Isstadion (5,800), the Helsingborgs Arena (4,700) and the 12,000-capacity Scandinavium in Gothenburg for the main round and the final weekend.

Ticket sales start on 21 June

The first tickets for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 went on sale in November 2015, including tickets for the match days of Group A in the preliminary round in Stockholm, Main Round Group I in Gothenburg and the final weekend also in Gothenburg.

These tickets can be bought via the official website, www.ehf-euro.com. Ticket sales for all other groups – Groups B, C and D in the preliminary round as well as Main Round Group II in Helsingborg – will start on 21 June. Tickets will also be available via www.ehf-euro.com.

ehf-euro.com now available in Swedish

Coinciding with the final tournament draw the European Handball Federation has launched a Swedish version of the the official event website, www.ehf-euro.com. The Swedish website will feature all tournament related information as well as news catering specifically for the Swedish market.

More information, including photos and videos, on the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 and the EHF EURO events in general can also be found on the EHF EURO social media channels, facebook.com/ehfeuro, twitter.com/ehfeuro, instagram.com/ehfeuro and youtube.com/ehfeuro.

Official match ball launched

The final tournament draw for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 was the place of choice where the new official matchball, manufactured by the EHF’s new ball supplier SELECT, was launched. Back in November 2015 the EHF and EHF Marketing signed a four-year agreement, beginning on 1 July 2016, with the Danish company which sells more than 3.5 million balls per year.

The deal will see SELECT providing the offi cial match ball for all EHF competitions including the VELUX EHF Champions League, WOMEN’S EHF Champions League, Men’s and Women’s EHF Cup as well as the EHF’s flagship national team competition, the EHF EURO events.

EHF signs Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration

At the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 Draw EHF President Jean Brihault has signed the Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration on women on sport. The Brighton Declaration was adopted at the first international conference on women and sport in Brighton in 1994.

It was then updated and called Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration at the IWG World Conference on Women and Sport in the Finnish capital in June 2014. The declaration's overriding aim is to develop a sporting culture that enables and values the full involvement of women in every aspect of sport. For more information go to www.eurohandball.com.