Who wins gold at Denmark 2016?

The time for Europe's rising handball stars to shine has come. From 28 July to 7 August the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2016 takes place in Denmark.

It is so to say the highest ranked event among the EHF's younger age category competitions. Many of the players who will take to the court in the hosting cities of Kolding and Vardrup already play in the European top leagues, for example in Spain, France, Denmark and Germany. Some of them have even already played a couple of times for their respective country's senior national team.

There are 16 teams participating at the Men's 20 EHF EURO, just like at a regular EHF EURO, and just like on senior national team level, France seem to be the team to beat.

It looks very much like as if there is another golden generation in the making. With the same generation of players, France won the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2014 as well as the Youth World Championship 2015 - and there is no doubt they are one of the red hot medal favourites in Denmark.

France were drawn to Group A alongside Switzerland, Serbia and Poland. Considering that the first two teams of each group make it to the main round, this should be a feasible task for the French team.

A lot of tension in Group B

Much tougher competition awaits in Group B though which consists of Spain, Iceland, Slovenia and Russia. Slovenia, Iceland and Spain - in that order - occupied the places 2 to 4 at the Youth World Championship 2015, and it is already clear now that at least one of them will miss out on the semi-finals in Denmark.

Hosts Denmark are the top seed in Group C. They face Norway, Netherlands and FYR Macedonia - and given their strength they should make it to the main round.

On the other hand, Group D with Hungary, Germany, Croatia and Sweden is almost impossible to predict. Just by looking at last year's results at the Youth World Championship, Sweden as 5th placed were the best ahead of Croatia (12th), Hungary (16th) and Germany (17th). But the final result will only be known on Sunday, 31 July when the preliminary round has come to an end.

Rising stars in the focus

The preliminary round will be played on 28, 29 and 31 July. Match days for the main round are 2 and 3 August; the semi-finals are scheduled for 5 August and the final will be played on 7 August.

All matches are streamed live. The streams are accessible via the following link http://livestream.com/m20euro

In the lead-up to the final tournament the European Handball Federation has published a series of features looking at some of 'rising stars' to watch in Denmark.

The last player to feature was Spain's Dani Dujshebaev and the list of all players featured can be found at the bottom of this article.

Articles published in the “Rising stars”-series ahead of the Men’s 20 EHF EURO

#1: Denmark’s Sebastian Augustinussen: He reaches for the stars – but at moderate pace

#2: Germany's Franz Semper: For a great player. height does not matter

#3: Omar Ingi Magnusson: The "new Olafur Stefansson" shines under the legend's guidance

#4: Aymeric Minne: The man to fulfill France’s high expectations

#5: Magnus Abelvik Rød is ready to take Norway far

#6: Patrik Ligetvari: Hungary’s young left back fires on all cylinders

#7: Dani Dujshebaev: Another handball great in the making