LIEBHERR 2019 European Championships in Nantes (September 3-8) – Women’s Team Preview
The LIEBHERR 2019 European Championships in Nantes (Sep 3-8) starts tomorrow September 3rd when 16 matches – eight in each Men’s and Women’s events – to be held. Women’s Team tournament will see once again Germany and Romania as two main candidates for the title.
Two years ago in Luxembourg Women’s Team event was concluded by super exciting gold medal contest between these two sides. Finalists were tied after four encounters but Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN overcame HAN Ying in the decisive fifth clash to secure first Romania’s crown after 12 years.
All eight Round 1 matches are scheduled for the opening day: Spain vs. Slovakia (Group A 10:00) Luxembourg vs. Greece (Group H 10:00) Austria vs. Bulgaria (Group E 13:00) Poland vs. Turkey (Group F 13:00) Belarus vs. Belgium (Group C 16:00) Czech Republic vs. Serbia (Group D 16:00) Russia vs. Croatia (Group G 19:00) Italy vs. Slovenia (Group B 19:00).
Eight top seeds will play their first games on September 4th and they are: four-time gold medallist and reigning champion Romania (Group A no. 1 seed) seven-time winner and actual runner-up Germany (Group B no. 2) record holder and nine-time winner Hungary (Group C no. 3) four-time European champion and actual bronze medallist Netherlands (Group D no. 4) 2015 bronze medallist Ukraine (Group E no. 5) 2014 bronze medallist Sweden (Group F no. 6) Portugal (Group G no. 7) and host nation France (Group H no. 8 seed).
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 Women’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.
