FINAL TOURNAMENT DRAW MEDIA GUIDE PREVIOUS MEN’S EHF EURO HOST NATIONS & WINNERS EHF EURO 1994 Portugal Winners – Sweden EHF EURO 1996 Spain Winners – Russia EHF EURO 1998 Italy Winners – Sweden EHF EURO 2000 Croatia Winners – Sweden EHF EURO 2002 Sweden Winners – Sweden EHF EURO 2004 Slovenia Winners – Germany EHF EURO 2006 Switzerland Winners – France EHF EURO 2008 Norway Winners – Denmark EHF EURO 2010 Austria Winners – France EHF EURO 2012 Serbia Winners – Denmark EHF EURO 2014 Denmark Winners – France 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Previous Men’s EHF EURO host nations and winners 2 Key details 4 Media services 5 Tournament information 6 Pot 1 7 France 8 Denmark 9 Spain 10 Croatia 11 Pot 2 12 Iceland 13 Poland 14 Sweden 15 Hungary 16 Pot 3 17 Russia 18 FYR Macedonia 19 Germany 20 Belarus 21 Pot 4 22 Serbia 23 Norway 24 Slovenia 25 Montenegro 26 EHF EURO 2016 venues 27 EHF EURO 2016 qualification results 28 3 KEY DETAILS Introduction Welcome to the draw for the Men’s EHF EURO 2016, the European Handball Federation’s flagship national team event. As a media representative you are receiving this information to ensure that you are completely up to date with all the latest information regarding the event. Should you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the EHF Media and Communications team. We look forward to working with you in the lead-up to the Men’s EHF EURO 2016. The EHF Media and Communications Team The host of the EHF EURO 2016 When the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 throws off in Poland in January 2016, it will be the 12th nation to host the 12th edition of the European Handball Federation’s flagship national team event. Handball is one of the most popular sports in Poland with thousands of fans regularly coming to the arenas for support when the national team or the most famous club sides, such as KS Vive Tauron Kielce and Orlen Wisla Plock, take to the court. A cumulative audience of 205 million watched on TV in Poland when the national team played at the EHF EURO 2014. The fans are famous for their passion and the electrifying atmosphere they create, wherever their team plays. On the road to the Men’s EHF EURO 2016, Poland has already hosted the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2013 and the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2014. This means that they will be well prepared to offer a colourful and entertaining experience for the audience, conveying a special championship spirit in January 2016. Key EHF media contacts JJ Rowland EHF Head of Media and Communications Email: [email protected] Phone: +43 1 80151 167 Thomas Schöneich EHF Media and Communications Email: [email protected] Phone: +43 1 80151 164 4 MEDIA SERVICES Ticket sales International ticket sales for the matches in Katowice, Gdansk and Wroclaw at the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 will start after the final tournament draw on 22 June. The sale for the final weekend as well as for all matches in Katowice already started earlier this year. Tickets can be bought via the official website www.ehf-euro.com. Official website and Facebook The event’s official website at www.ehf-euro.com offers up to date tournament information and news in the lead up to the Men’s EHF EURO 2016. During the event itself, it will provide a complete media service from the EHF European Championship. A team of media professionals including editors, journalists and photographers will provide a huge amount of information for use by media representatives including mixed zone and press conference quotes, match previews, reports and interviews. The official Facebook page for EHF EURO events is www.facebook.com/ehfeuro Live streaming and video on demand on YouTube The EHF and its media and marketing partner, Infront Sports and Media, will offer a complete live streaming and on-demand video service from the EHF EURO in Poland. All matches will be streamed with full English commentary. There will also be daily video reports and features from the EHF Video Team. Media Portal The EHF‘s media portal at http://members.ehf.eu is the one-stop-shop for media representatives offering all the EHF‘s media news such as press releases, event flash quotes directly after matches, press conference highlights, draw reactions and downloads of all relevant information including, but not limited to, media guides and event logos. Downloadable items are available in the document section, press statements and flash quotes from matches, press conferences and draws are available in the news section. If you have not registered yet, you can do so at http://bit.ly/ ehfmediaportal Photo service The EHF will provide the media with a small number of free of charge photographs from selected events such as this final tournament draw. The pictures will be available to download from the Flickr account: www.flickr.com/ehfmedia @EHFEURO Twitter Follow the EHF Media and Communications Department’s EHF EURO Twitter channel to be kept completely up to date with the latest happenings in European handball and with a special focus on keeping you the media informed – the channel can be found @EHFEURO. 5 TOURNAMENT INFORMATION Poland was awarded the right to host the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 at the EHF Congress in June 2012 in Monaco. Croatia, Norway and Poland had bid for the event, and after the presentation of all bids, the majority voted in favour of Poland (27 votes), followed by Croatia (15 votes) and Norway (4 votes). Only a few months later the first teams already embarked on the road to Poland, as the first phase of the qualification for the first time was played on a home and away basis instead of in qualification tournaments. Finland, Greece and Estonia became the three group winners who in April 2014 faced Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania and Switzerland in another new qualification phase, the intermediate play-offs. The latter three had been the three lowest ranked teams in the EHF EURO 2014 Qualification. However, two of them – Bosnia- Herzegovina and Romania – avoided a further relegation, while Finland recorded a surprise victory against Romania and made it to the final qualification stage. This second phase started in October 2014 and after 84 qualifiers had been played by the middle of June 2015, the field of teams for the EHF EURO 2016 was completed. Croatia and Norway from Group 1, Denmark and Belarus from Group 2, Sweden and Slovenia from Group 3, Iceland, Serbia and Montenegro (as best third ranked team) from Group 4, Hungary and Russia from Group 5, France and FYR Macedonia from Group 6 as well as Spain and Germany from Group 7 joined hosts Poland at the final tournament. The Men’s EHF EURO 2016 will be played from 15 to 31 January 2016. Poland is the 12th nation in EHF EURO history since 1994 that hosts the 12th final tournament. The preliminary round will be played in Krakow (Group A), Katowice (Group B), Wroclaw (Group C) and Gdansk (Group D). The main round will be played in Krakow (Group I) and Wroclaw (Group II); the final weekend will take place in Krakow. Besides these four cities, Malopolska, the region surrounding Krakow, is also the official hosting region for the tournament. This is first time that a Men’s EHF EURO event has been extended to 17 days overall. The extension is due to change in the playing system for the main round. Instead of three there will be four playing days with two teams always resting on Days 1, 2 and 3 – it is only on the fourth playing day that all six teams take to the court. The arenas selected for this tournament are the newly-built Tauron Arena in Krakow with a capacity of 15,000 spectators, the Ergo Arena in Gdansk (11,000), the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Centennial Hall in Wroclaw (6,500) and the Spodek Arena in Katowice (10,000). Ahead of the draw Poland made of use of their right as organisers and already placed one team in each group, which means that the hosts will start in Krakow (Group A), Germany will play in Wroclaw (Group C), Denmark in Gdansk (Group D) and Croatia in Katowice (Group B). 6 POT 1 France Denmark Spain Croatia 7 FRANCE Achievements EHF EURO 2006, 2010, 2014 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES 2008, 2012 1992 World Championships 1995, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2015 Team profile 1993 When France won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games when they demolished hosts Denmark 41:32 in the in London, it seemed this success might be the final. And it did not stop there – a year later France 1997, 2003, 2005 last for the nation’s golden handball generation topped another podium, this time at the World as long-term key players such as Didier Dinart Championship. The team is led by the outstanding and Guillaume Gille retired and the team played a current World Handball Player Nikola Karabatic, Media contact disappointing World Championship 2013. but new players such as Valentin Porte, Luka However, the glory days for French handball are far Karabatic and Alix Nyokas have shown they have Pauline Lambertini from over. At the EHF EURO 2014 they remained all the potential it takes to become world-class [email protected] unbeaten and won their third European title in style athletes. +33 663 773 263 www.ff-handball.org EHF European Championship (qualification) record Year Stage MP W D L Goals Diff. Pts. Rank 1994 Qualif.