The draw for the men’s competition at the 2021 European Championships Division A took place in the host city of Madrid on Monday 18 October 2021.
FEDDF President José Alberto Álvarez welcomed guests and sponsors to the City Council in Madrid, as the draw to determine the groups of the Men’s European Championship was made.
12 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams will compete in the European Championships between 4 – 12 December 2021. The combined competition will take place in two venues - “Centro Deportivo Municipal Marques de Samaranch” and “Centro Deportivo Municipal Francisco Fernandez Ochoa”.
IWBF Europe Vice President Fernando Zappile oversaw the draw, as the 12 men’s teams were paired based on their previous rankings, and would be drawn into two groups of six. Once five pairs were drawn, Spain as hosts were then given the opportunity to choose which group they were placed in, with Great Britain, who Spain were paired with, being placed in the opposite group. The top 4 in each group will advance to the quarter-finals.
The Groups are as follows:
Group A: Spain, France, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Switzerland.
Group B: Great Britain, Austria, Israel, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey.
Spain, France, Turkey, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Germany will compete in the women’s competition. All six teams will play in a round-robin in the preliminary stages to determine the semi-final line-ups.
The European Championship is the qualification tournament for European teams for the 2022 World Championships which is set to take place in Dubai, UAE, next November. The top 5 men’s teams and 4 women’s teams from these European Championships qualify for the 2022 World Championships.
Image courtesy: FEDDF
