2021 World Women's Handball Championship – European qualification

The European qualification for the 2021 World Women's Handball Championship, in Spain, was played over two rounds.

In the first round of qualification, 17 teams who were not participating at the 2020 European Championship were split into two groups of four and three groups of three teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the second phase, where the teams joined the remaining 10 teams from the European Championship and played play-off games to determine the qualified teams.

Qualification phase 1

Seeding

The draw was held on 8 July 2020 in Vienna, Austria.[1][2] The top two teams of each group advance to the play-off round. Each group will play their matches in a mini-tournament at a pre-selected location.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
 Austria
 Belarus
 Slovakia
 Turkey
 North Macedonia 		 Ukraine
 Italy
  Switzerland
 Iceland
 Portugal 		 Lithuania
 Faroe Islands
 Kosovo
 Israel
 Finland 		 Greece
 Luxembourg

On 13 November 2020, the EHF decided to postpone the matches, scheduled for December 2020, to March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

All times are UTC+1.

Group 1

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Slovakia 3 3 0 0 105 64 +41 6 Qualification phase 2
2  Ukraine 3 2 0 1 87 76 +11 4
3  Israel 3 1 0 2 65 86 −21 2
4  Luxembourg (H) 3 0 0 3 56 87 −31 0
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
19 March 2021
17:00 		Slovakia  31–28  Ukraine d'Coque, Luxembourg City
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Kijauskaitė, Žalienė (LTU)
R. Bíziková, Szarková 7 (14–13) Smolinh 9
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19 March 2021
19:30 		Israel  22–18  Luxembourg d'Coque, Luxembourg City
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Fahner, Kubis (POL)
Vakrat 6 (11–6) J. Wirtz 5
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20 March 2021
15:30 		Slovakia  37–19  Israel d'Coque, Luxembourg City
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Fahner, Kubis (POL)
Lancz 10 (18–11) Vakrat 5
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20 March 2021
18:00 		Ukraine  28–21  Luxembourg d'Coque, Luxembourg City
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Kijauskaitė, Žalienė (LTU)
Smolinh 8 (14–12) Welter 5
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21 March 2021
15:30 		Ukraine  31–24  Israel d'Coque, Luxembourg City
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Fahner, Kubis (POL)
Volovnyk 7 (16–10) Vakrat 8
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21 March 2021
18:00 		Luxembourg  17–37  Slovakia d'Coque, Luxembourg City
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Kijauskaitė, Žalienė (LTU)
Welter 4 (10–16) Patrnčiaková 7
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Group 2

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  North Macedonia (H) 3 3 0 0 75 57 +18 6 Qualification phase 2
2  Iceland 3 2 0 1 81 66 +15 4
3  Lithuania 3 1 0 2 71 90 −19 2
4  Greece 3 0 0 3 64 78 −14 0
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
19 March 2021
17:45 		North Macedonia  24–17  Iceland Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ciulei, Stoia (ROU)
Ristovska 11 (11–8) three players 3
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19 March 2021
19:45 		Lithuania  27–26  Greece Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ivanović, Vujisić (MNE)
Šponė 6 (12–12) Zygoura 7
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20 March 2021
17:45 		North Macedonia  31–21  Lithuania Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ivanović, Vujisić (MNE)
Ristovska 8 (15–12) Sparnauskaitė 5
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20 March 2021
19:45 		Iceland  31–19  Greece Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ciulei, Stoia (ROU)
R. Jónsdóttir 7 (15–7) Chatziparasidou 4
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21 March 2021
17:45 		Greece  19–20  North Macedonia Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ciulei, Stoia (ROU)
Chatziparasidou 6 (13–10) Ristovska 10
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21 March 2021
19:45 		Iceland  33–23  Lithuania Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ivanović, Vujisić (MNE)
Thompson 7 (19–9) Repečkaitė 8
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Group 3

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Turkey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification phase 2
2  Portugal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Finland[a] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrawn
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
Notes:
  1. ^ Finland withdrew before the competition.[4]

Group 4

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Austria (H) 2 2 0 0 63 42 +21 4 Qualification phase 2
2  Italy 2 1 0 1 46 59 −13 2
3  Kosovo 2 0 0 2 42 50 −8 0
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
19 March 2021
18:10 		Kosovo  20–26  Austria BSFZ Südstadt, Maria Enzersdorf
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Cipov, Klus (SVK)
Gjikokaj 6 (12–11) Reichert 9
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20 March 2021
18:00 		Italy  24–22  Kosovo BSFZ Südstadt, Maria Enzersdorf
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Cipov, Klus (SVK)
three players 5 (11–10) Kameri 6
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21 March 2021
16:30 		Austria  37–22  Italy BSFZ Südstadt, Maria Enzersdorf
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Cipov, Klus (SVK)
Reichert 10 (20–8) Del Balzo, Djiogap 6
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Group 5

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Switzerland 2 1 1 0 51 43 +8 3[a] Qualification phase 2
2  Belarus (H) 2 1 1 0 46 38 +8 3[a]
3  Faroe Islands 2 0 0 2 31 47 −16 0
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Belarus 25–25 Switzerland
19 March 2021
18:00 		Faroe Islands  13–21  Belarus Čyžoŭka-Arena, Minsk
Attendance: 350
Referees: Duplii, Pobedrina (UKR)
Henneberg Joensen 3 (7–15) Ilyina, Kulak 4
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20 March 2021
16:00 		Switzerland  26–18  Faroe Islands Čyžoŭka-Arena, Minsk
Attendance: 130
Referees: Duplii, Pobedrina (UKR)
Kündig 11 (14–11) Armgarðsdóttir Brimnes, Weyhe 4
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21 March 2021
16:00 		Belarus  25–25   Switzerland Čyžoŭka-Arena, Minsk
Attendance: 550
Referees: Duplii, Pobedrina (UKR)
Kulak 8 (15–14) Hodel 9
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Qualification phase 2

The teams played a home-and away series to determine the participants for the final tournament. The draw took place on 22 March 2021.[5][6]

Seedings

Pot 1
(10 best ranked teams from the 2020 European Championship not already qualified for World Championship) 		Pot 2
(10 teams from the qualification round)
 Czech Republic
 Germany
 Hungary
 Montenegro
 Poland
 Romania
 Russia
 Serbia
 Slovenia
 Sweden 		 Austria
 Belarus
 Iceland
 Italy
 North Macedonia
 Portugal
 Slovakia
  Switzerland
 Turkey
 Ukraine

All times are UTC+2.

Overview

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Turkey  47–80  Russia 23–35 24–45
Czech Republic  55–49   Switzerland 27–27 28–22
Slovenia  45–35  Iceland 24–14 21–21
Slovakia  44–58  Serbia 19–26 25–32
Ukraine  40–50  Sweden 14–28 26–22
Austria  58–55  Poland 29–29 29–26
Hungary  87–31  Italy 46–19 41–12
Romania  68–42  North Macedonia 33–22 35–20
Portugal  50–66  Germany 27–32 23–34
Montenegro  55–47  Belarus 29–23 26–24

Matches

16 April 2021
16:30 		Turkey  23–35  Russia Hasan Dağı Spor Salonu, Aksaray
Attendance: 220
Referees: Butskevich, Butskevich (BLR)
Aydın 5 (12–19) Dmitrieva 7
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20 April 2021
18:30 		Russia  45–24  Turkey Dynamo Volleyball Arena, Moscow
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Aghakishi, Aghakishi (AZE)
Samokhina 7 (24–13) Akgün 6
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Russia won 80–47 on aggregate.

17 April 2021
20:10 		Czech Republic  27–27   Switzerland ROBE Aréna, Zubří
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Lidacka, Lesiak (POL)
Hrbková 9 (12–14) Kündig 8
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20 April 2021
20:15 		Switzerland  22–28  Czech Republic Mobiliar Arena, Gümligen
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Merz, Kuttler (GER)
Kähr 5 (11–14) Jeřábková 15
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Czech Republic won 55–49 on aggregate.

17 April 2021
17:30 		Slovenia  24–14  Iceland Sportni Park Kodeljevo, Ljubljana
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Metalari, Nikolovski (MKD)
Omoregie 9 (13–7) Thompson 5
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21 April 2021
21:45 		Iceland  21–21  Slovenia Íþróttamiðstöð Hauka, Hafnarfjörður
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Smailagic, Smailagic (SWE)
Júlíusdóttir 5 (8–9) Stanko 8
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Slovenia won 45–35 on aggregate.

17 April 2021
18:00 		Slovakia  19–26  Serbia Mestská Športová Hala Šaľa, Šaľa
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Năstase, Stancu (ROU)
Lancz 6 (10–11) Kovačević 8
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21 April 2021
18:00 		Serbia  32–25  Slovakia Sportski centar Voždovac, Belgrade
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Alpaidze, Berezkina (RUS)
Cvijić, Krpež Šlezak 7 (13–12) Lancz 6
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Serbia won 58–44 on aggregate.

17 April 2021
16:00 		Ukraine  14–28  Sweden Palace of Sports, Kyiv
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Hatipoğlu, Şimşek (TUR)
Smolinh 4 (7–15) Roberts 4
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21 April 2021
18:10 		Sweden  22–26  Ukraine Sparbanken Skåne Arena, Lund
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Ciulei, Stoia (ROU)
Andersson 6 (9–14) Smolinh 6
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Sweden won 50–40 on aggregate.

16 April 2021
18:10 		Austria  29–29  Poland BSFZ Südstadt, Maria Enzersdorf
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Simone, Monitillo (ITA)
Neidhart 8 (13–13) Nosek 6
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20 April 2021
18:00 		Poland  26–29  Austria Mareckie Centrum Edukacyjno-Rekreacyjne, Marki
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Sá, Sá (POR)
Kudłacz-Gloc 6 (11–15) Frey 10
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Austria won 58–55 on aggregate.

16 April 2021
16:05 		Hungary  46–19  Italy Érd Aréna, Érd
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Fukala, Mohyla (CZE)
Klujber 10 (23–10) Babbo, Rotondo 5
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18 April 2021
13:00 		Italy  12–41  Hungary Érd Aréna, Érd
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Fukala, Mohyla (CZE)
three players 3 (5–17) Klujber, Lukács 6
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Hungary won 87–31 on aggregate.

17 April 2021
17:00 		Romania  33–22  North Macedonia Dinamo Polyvalent Hall, Bucharest
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Antić, Jakovljević (SRB)
Neagu 12 (15–11) Ristovska 8
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21 April 2021
17:00 		North Macedonia  20–35  Romania Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Praštalo, Balvan (BIH)
Gjeorgjievska 6 (10–18) Moisă 8
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Romania won 68–42 on aggregate.

17 April 2021
21:30 		Portugal  27–32  Germany Pavilhão Municipal do Luso, Luso
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Carmaux, Mursch (FRA)
Lopes 6 (10–17) Stockschläder, Zapf 7
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20 April 2021
17:30 		Germany  34–23  Portugal Westpress Arena, Hamm
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Lindenbaum, Laron (ISR)
Zapf 7 (15–11) Sousa 6
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Germany won 66–50 on aggregate.

16 April 2021
18:00 		Montenegro  29–23  Belarus Bemax Arena, Podgorica
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referees: Backović, Palačković (SLO)
Jauković 9 (14–13) Kulak 8
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20 April 2021
17:00 		Belarus  24–26  Montenegro Čyžoŭka-Arena, Minsk
Attendance: 600
Referees: Novikov, Rozhkov (UKR)
Kulak 8 (11–15) Radičević 7
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Montenegro won 55–47 on aggregate.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ^ "Road to Spain 2021 begins with qualification phase 1 draw". eurohandball.com. 7 July 2020.
  2. ^ "17 teams learn first opponents on road to Spain 2021". eurohandball.com. 8 July 2020.
  3. ^ "EHF postpones Women's World Championship 2021 Qualification". eurohandball.com. 13 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Turkey and Portugal reach the second qualification phase". EHF. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  5. ^ "20 teams, 10 tickets: Play-offs to complete road to Spain". eurohandball.com. 12 March 2021.
  6. ^ "10 play-off ties drawn for final step towards Spain". eurohandball.com. 22 March 2021.