EURO 2010 Qualification
The EURO 2010 qualifications started in October 2008, and were played by 37 national teams of Europe in a completely reformed competition structure.
Following a long period of extensive discussions and evaluations, the 9th e.o. Congress in Lillehammer/NOR took the remaining open decisions on 26 January 2008 on the issue of the new qualification system for European Championships.
After the basic approval of the new qualification system on the occasion of the 2006 Congress in Vilamoura/POR, a number of items were dealt with by the EHF Technical Commissions and Executive Committee as well as by a Working Group that was installed by the e.o. Congress in October 2007 in Rome. The evaluations and findings of this Working Group were the basis for the remaining motions that were decided upon in Lillehammer.
These decisions together with the decisions on technical matters taken earlier by the Executive Committee formed the pillars of the new qualification system, which was in use for the first time on the occasion of the qualification to the Men’s EHF Euro 2010 in Austria.
This new qualification system which included all participating Federations except the organiser Austria and the defending Champion Denmark could easily be regarded as a milestone in the development of the National Team competitions of European handball. It provided an opportunity to all Federations to present their National Teams in a top competition including all the best teams in Europe over a long period which guaranteed a steady presence in the media and, consequently, offered new ways in the co-operation with partners and sponsors in a qualifying system with a fixed numbers of matches at home and away on playing periods that were known at a very early date.
At the same time, we must not forget that this new qualification system was a challenge for all parties concerned including the EHF, as there were various issues to be tackled (floors with handball lines only, standards of playing halls in general, release of players to the national team, etc.). A number of topics still require a very close co-operation among the National Federations in Europe in order to further develop this product.
