Six teams ready to secure their place in Sweden

Six teams in Groups 1, 2 and 3 have the chance to secure their place at the final tournament in Sweden when qualification for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 continues on Wednesday, while others will bow out of contention.

All matches can be followed with the EHF live ticker.

Group 1: Belarus vs Norway, 19:00 hrs local time in Minsk

With six points earned so far in the path to qualification for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016, Norway look set to book their place in Sweden in the last two rounds of qualification matches – and will likely achieve that against Belarus or in their last match on Saturday against LIthuania.

The EHF EURO 2014 champions have one blemish on their record in this competition: A 20:25 loss against their World Championship 2015 Semi-final opponents Romania in Round 3.

But that loss was left behind them when they defeated Romania by 10 goals in the return fixture, and the current Olympic, world and European champions can look confidently ahead to their meeting with Belarus.

The last time these teams met, in the opening round of the qualification phase, the match ended with a 35:24 victory for Norway – a score line which indicates another Scandinavian win is likely. 

If Belarus manage an upset, they will move up to six points and open the group for deciding matches in the final round.

Group 1: Lithuania vs Romania, 19:00 local time in Kaunas

As the current bottom-of-the-table side, sitting on zero points after four straight losses in the qualification phase, Lithuania are unlikely to be able to defeat a powerful Romania team that only seems stronger each time they step on the court under coach Thomas Ryde’s guidance.

Though the odds are firmly in Romania’s favour to claim their fourth set of two points and with it their place at the final tournament in December, there is no chance that the bronze medallists at the World Championship 2015 will take it easy on their hosts.

Ryde will probably use the opportunity to play his less favoured squad, and may elect to keep on the bench Cristina Neagu for much of the 60 minutes as he did in the second match against Norway.

With a number of Romanian players fresh from victory with CSM Bucuresti at the Women’s EHF FINAL4 in May, the team are in superb form and do not look to be slowing – an ominous sign for Lithuania.

Group 2: Ukraine vs Serbia, 19:00 hrs local time in Kiev

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