M18 EHF EURO final tournament line-up complete

• Greece, Switzerland, Poland, Czechia and Austria all progressed unbeaten to the final tournament; Greece with two wins and a draw and the other teams with three wins
• they will be joined by Italy, North Macedonia, Israel, Ukraine, and Romania
• the last games for Israel and Romania were key and both progressed on goal difference after draws with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Latvia respectively
• Ukraine and Türkiye also drew in their last game, thanks to Sadik Emre Herseklioglu's buzzer-beater - meaning Ukraine progressed ahead of Estonia 
• Latvian left back Leonards Valkovskis and Czechia right back Dominik Skopar were the top scorers, each netting 24 times. Skopar scored 11 goals in Czechia's 48:40 victory against Estonia
• Romania were the highest-scoring team, netting 119 goals in just three matches - but Czechia scored the most in a single match, against Estonia

Italy's win denies Lithuania final tournament spot

The closest of the five groups proved to be group A, played in Italy, where all four teams emerged with at least one victory in the qualification tournament. Going into the final match, Italy had not secured a victory, while Lithuania knew a win would see them progress ahead of the Netherlands.

And for a while it looked as though the Lithuanians would do it. They were first to score and after a strong finish to the first half, led 19:16. Early in the second half Lithuania even extended the lead to 22:18, but Italy responded and drew level at 24:24. A 3:0 run for Lithuania took them back ahead, but three goals in a row from left back Simone Giambartolomei gave Italy the lead again. The hosts hung on for the rest of the game, eventually winning 35:33. 

As Italy had drawn with Greece in the first round, the win gave them a place in the final tournament - their third appearance, and the third appearance in a row - and denied Lithuania a debut at this level.

Overall rankings

The teams qualified for the M18 EHF EURO from the qualification tournaments by finishing first or second are:
Austria, Czechia, Greece, Israel, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Switzerland and Ukraine

The teams qualified for the M18 EHF Championship I, ranked third and the three best fourth-placed teams, are:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Slovakia, Türkiye 

The teams qualified for the M18 EHF Championship II are:
Kosovo, Luxembourg

Main photo © Luigi Canu