Vektor

Updated map
 

 
Returning countries (3):  (A2017),  (O2013),  (O2017)
 
Countries who participated at O2019 and have not yet confirmed the participation (12):              

Gergő Rácz x Reni Orsovai - "Mostantól"  
 

Updated map
 

 
Returning countries (3):  (A2017),  (O2013),  (O2017)
 
Countries who participated at O2019 and have not yet confirmed the participation (12):              

China withdrew from the OQT because of the Coronavirus. This means that Kazakhstan will be in our group, with Serbia, Hungary and Russia. I wouldn't be surprised if Hong Kong and Thailand won't take this opportunity to participate in the OQT with Norway, Montenegro and Romania. I mean, the coronavirus is also there. And you know what that means? Germany is about to get really lucky. 

China withdrew from the OQT because of the Coronavirus. This means that Kazakhstan will be in our group, with Serbia, Hungary and Russia. I wouldn't be surprised if Hong Kong and Thailand won't take this opportunity to participate in the OQT with Norway, Montenegro and Romania. I mean, the coronavirus is also there. And you know what that means? Germany is about to get really lucky. 

And in same Olympic cycle they got the silver medal at the 2018 ECh. They can beat any of the other 3 teams and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they qualify. 

I guess it might be time for the first map.
 

 
Returning countries (1):  (O2013)
 
Countries who participated at O2019 and have not yet confirmed the participation (16):                 

I guess it might be time for the first map.
 

 
Returning countries (1):  (O2013)
 
Countries who participated at O2019 and have not yet confirmed the participation (16):                 

I guess it might be time for the first map.
 

 
Returning countries (1):  (O2013)
 
Countries who participated at O2019 and have not yet confirmed the participation (16):                 

I guess it might be time for the first map.
 

 
Returning countries (1):  (O2013)
 
Countries who participated at O2019 and have not yet confirmed the participation (16):                 

It's mind blowing that Serbia couldn't get into the Top4 at the WCh and ECh before the Olympics. I know that they might not be taking these tournaments seriously, but still...

Hungary Women's Team Coach Kim Rasmussen Suspended
 
 
This is the press conference: https://www.facebook.com/392016870930528/videos/484365449100068/
 
What an idiotic decision right before the OQT. How the fuck dare they do this to a national team? I have never seen something like this before in a team sport. He cursed and was angry at the delegates for making some very questionable calls. International Federations usually give some fine for this, not suspend the coach from ALL activities. Absolutely ridiculous. 

Hungary Women's Team Coach Kim Rasmussen Suspended
 
 
This is the press conference: https://www.facebook.com/392016870930528/videos/484365449100068/
 
What an idiotic decision right before the OQT. How the fuck dare they do this to a national team? I have never seen something like this before in a team sport. He cursed and was angry at the delegates for making some very questionable calls. International Federations usually give some fine for this, not suspend the coach from ALL activities. Absolutely ridiculous. 

Christ, those Christmas lights are giving me a heart attack every time I break them. 

Sweden was 6th at the ECh, we were 7th. We needed Sweden to get a WCh OQT spot, because otherwise they would have taken the 2nd European OQT spot instead of us (Romania already got the first one with their ECh 4th place). 

Now I could accept a draw  
 

btw, IHF needs to reform their qualification system somehow because it looks weird this way
 
WCH
1st - direct qualification
2nd - basically direct qualification
3rd/4th - two Olympic qualification matches against European teams at HOME (playing at home is the only reason why this is better than finishing below)
5th/6th - two Olympic qualification matches against European teams
7th - basically direct qualification 
 
Obviously this wouldn't be the case if Europe wouldn't dominate the sport. Personally I think having two 6 teams tournaments would solve this quite easily.
 
Group 1: WCh 2nd, WCh 5th, WCh 7th, Europe1, Asia2, America
Group 2: WCh 3rd, WCh 4th, WCh 6th, Europe2, Asia1, Africa
 
Equal number of European teams in each groups, looks a lot more fair than what we got now. 

Not yet. If Montenegro beats Sweden, Sweden will have to defeat Serbia or Germany at the 7th place match to get us that OQT spot. 

Damn... that's it for Denmark at this WCh, and their Olympic dreams are over. Serbia is in the Top8. 

I am sure everyone in the Hungarian handball community will root for Netherlands and Sweden tomorrow like they are the Hungarian national team. 

So Romania officially takes one of the ECh OQT spots. 
 
Teams that already qualified:      
 
Teams that can either qualify directly or get a WCh OQT spot:        
 
Teams that can get a WCh OQT spot:   
 
Team that got an ECh OQT spot:  
 
Team that can get an ECh OQT spot:  

With the exception of that weird defeat against Netherlands, Norway is doing a flawless job so far, we are probably heading towards a Norway v Russia final. 

I read that Russia can participate at EURO 2020 because it's not a multisport event and it's regional (European), not a World Championship. So I guess this ban only applies to World Championships and multisport events. 

If both Norway and Netherlands finish with at least 6 points (for example, if both beat Korea), either Serbia or Denmark will fail to qualify for the OQT, so that Serbia v Denmark match in the last round can be a "life or death" situation for them. As for Montenegro, they should be in the Top8 at the very least, unless they lose their last two matches against Russia and Sweden, AND Romania beats Sweden and Japan, and that's not a likely outcome at the moment. 

And that's it for France. Which very likely means that the teams has to finish in the Top8 to get a OQT spot, maybe even Top7 if Korea flops in the main round.