LIEBHERR 2019 European Championships in Nantes (September 3-8) – Men’s Team Preview
The LIEBHERR 2019 European Championships in Nantes (Sep 3-8) will be opened tomorrow September 3rd by Round 1 games gathering for the very first time 24 teams in each of Men’s and Women’s events. Regarding Men’s Team competition Germany defends the title after victory against Portugal 3:0 two years ago in Luxembourg. It was Germany’s revenge for defeat in the gold medal contest in the 2014 European Championships in Portugal when host side won 3:1.
All eight Round 1 matches are schedulled for the opening day: Portugal vs. Turkey (Group H 10:00) Slovakia vs. Spain (Group C 10:00) Belgium vs. Serbia (Group G 13:00) Romania vs. Hungary (Group B 13:00) Croatia vs. Netherlands (Group E 16:00) England vs. Luxembourg (Group F 16:00) Russia vs. Czech Republic (Group A 19:00) Denmark vs. Ukraine (Group D 19:00).
Eight top seeds will play their first games on September 4th and they are: seven-time European champion Germany (no. 1 seed Group A) record holder with 14 titles Sweden (no. 2 Group B) host nation and three-time winner France (no. 3 Group C) 2015 European champion Austria (no. 4 Group D) 2017 bronze medallist Slovenia (no. 5 Group E) 2003 ECH gold medallist Belarus (no. 6 Group F) two-time runner-up and 3-time bronze medallist Poland (no. 7 Group G) and 2013 runner-up Greece (no. 8 Group H).
Starting from 2018 the European Teams Championships has been playing over a period of two years and be concluded with the final stage with 24 men’s teams and 24 women’s teams in odd numbered years.
The European Teams Championships has commenced in the preceding year with stages one and two which lasted 18 months. The winner of the previous European Championships and the host for the final stage of the Championships didn’t participate in Stage One instead they proceeded directly to the final stage of the Championships.
A total of 24 Men’s teams make eight groups of three teams each in the final stage playing a complete round robin (2 matches per team). Teams finishing in 2nd and 3rd positions in the groups have completed their matches. Group winners proceed to the quarter-finals. From the quarter-finals the knockout system will be used. The winner will be the European Champion.
