Organisers take first step towards Men's EHF EURO 2022

While the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 Qualifiers have only just begun, some nations are already looking ahead to the next event two years later. The handball federations of Hungary and Slovakia have started their preparations for the 2022 edition of the tournament, which they will be co-hosting.

As Hungary and Slovakia met in the Erd Arena for a Group 7 qualifier last week, the leaders of the two federations used the opportunity to start planning for the EHF EURO 2022.

“The most important thing is that we have started working together. Of course, structural issues have been discussed this time,” said Gabriella Horváth, Deputy Secretary General for International Affairs at the Hungarian Handball Federation.

“In the near future, we will set up the entire organising committee and the joint supervisory body,” Horváth  said. “It is important that a number of areas should be supervised together with the Slovakian federation, and there will obviously be local issues organised separately by the two federations.”

Looking forward to January 2022, Horváth is expecting “a sport event to which fans come with pleasure from all over the continent.”

The Slovakian Handball Federation is just as eager to get the preparations underway.

“The most important thing is that we have started working together. I feel that both federations look at the EHF EURO both as a challenge and an experience,” said Ivan Sabovik, Secretary General of the Slovakian Handball Federation.

“In the EHF EURO 2020 Qualifier our teams fought against each other,” Sabovik said about Wednesday's match, which Hungary won 30:22. “But for the EHF EURO 2022 we do everything together as we want to make a memorable competition.”

Men’s EHF EURO 2022 (14-30 January 2022, Hungary & Slovakia):

Venues:

- Preliminary round (6 groups of 4 teams each):
Debrecen, Szeged, Veszprém, Bratislava, Kosice

- Main round (2 groups of 6 teams each):
Budapest, Bratislava

- Semi-finals, placement matches, final:
Budapest