2017 IHF Emerging Nations Championship

2nd IHF Emerging Nations Championship 2017

Tournament details
Host country	Bulgaria
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	12–18 June
Teams	16 (from 2 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Faroe Islands (2nd title)
Runner-up	Turkey
Third place	Kosovo
Fourth place	Cyprus
Tournament statistics
Matches played	48
Goals scored	2,885 (60.1 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Svetlin Dimitrov (65 goals)
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The 2017 IHF Emerging Nations Handball Championship was the second edition of the IHF Emerging Nations Championship held in Bulgaria under the aegis of International Handball Federation. The tournament was held in two cities, Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo, from 12 to 18 June 2017. ^[1]

A total of sixteen countries participated in the tournament out of which 15 are European except China.

Faroe Islands defended their title by defeating Turkey 26–25 in the final. ^[2]

Three best-ranked teams from this tournament earned the right to participate at the 2nd phase of qualification for EURO 2020

Venues

The championship were played at two venues in Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. ^[3]

Gabrovo	Gabrovo Veliko Tarnovo
Orlovetz Sports Hall Capacity: 1,920
Veliko Tarnovo
Palace of Culture and Sport Capacity: 1,600

Participating teams

Country	Previous appearances in championship
Albania	1 (2015)
Andorra	1 (2015)
Armenia	1 (2015)
Azerbaijan	0 (debut)
Bulgaria	1 (2015)
China	1 (2015)
Cyprus	0 (debut)
Faroe Islands	1 ( 2015 )
Georgia	0 (debut)
Great Britain	1 (2015)
Ireland	1 (2015)
Kosovo	1 ( 2015 )
Luxembourg	0 (debut)
Malta	1 (2015)
Moldova	1 (2015)
Turkey	0 (debut)

¹Bold indicates champion for that year. Italics indicates host.

Draw

The draw was held on 7 March 2017 at 19:00. ^[4]

Seeding

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Cyprus   Turkey   Luxembourg   China	Faroe Islands   Kosovo   Georgia   Bulgaria	Albania   Andorra   Armenia   Azerbaijan   Great Britain   Ireland   Moldova   Malta

Referees

The following referees were appointed for the championship: ^[5]

Referees   Algeria Youcef Belkhiri Sid Ali Hamidi   Austria Denis Bolic Christoph Hurich   Bulgaria Georgi Doychinov Yulian Goretsov   China Zhou Yunlei Cheng Yufeng   Egypt Yasmina El-Saied Heidy El-Saied   Great Britain Jason Hollis Nicholas Le-mon   Italy Simone Zendalli Stefano Riello

Referees   Kosovo Sherif Xhema Besfort Jahja   Montenegro Jelena Vujačić Andelina Kažanegra   Poland Maciej Łabuń Jakub Jerlecki   Portugal Vania Sá Marta Sá   Serbia Marko Boričić Dejan Marković   Sweden Maria Bennani Safia Bennani   Ukraine Marina Duplii Olena Kaverina

Preliminary round

The top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage.

All times are local (UTC+3). ^[6]

Tie-breaking criteria

For the group stage of this tournament, where two or more teams in a group tied on an equal number of points, the finishing positions will be determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order: ^[7]

1. Number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question
2. Goal difference in the matches among the teams in question
3. Number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
4. Goal difference in all the group matches
5. Number of goals scored in all the group matches
6. Drawing of lots

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Turkey	3	3	0	0	120	62	+58	6	Quarterfinals
2	Kosovo	3	2	0	1	115	72	+43	4
3	Ireland	3	1	0	2	106	121	−15	2
4	Albania	3	0	0	3	62	148	−86	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

12 June 2017 14:00	Turkey	25–24	Kosovo	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Bennani, Bennani (SWE)
	Döne 7	(13–12)	Beshiri 5
	3× 8× 1×	Report	3× 5×

12 June 2017 16:00	Albania	33–50	Ireland	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Zhou, Cheng (CHN)
	Shingjini 10	(18–25)	Bregazzi 13
	1× 4×	Report	2× 5×

---

13 June 2017 14:00	Kosovo	47–30	Ireland	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Duplii, Kaverina (UKR)
	Jupa 10	(23–14)	J. Krohn, O'Brien 6
	2× 5×	Report	3× 4×

13 June 2017 16:00	Turkey	54–12	Albania	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Hollis, Le-Mon (GBR)
	Öztürk 10	(27–6)	Shingjini 6
	1× 4×	Report	2× 11× 1×

---

14 June 2017 14:00	Ireland	26–41	Turkey	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Doychinov, Gpretsov (BUL)
	J. Krohn 7	(14–18)	Kanberoğlu 10
	2× 4×	Report	2× 4×

14 June 2017 16:00	Kosovo	44–17	Albania	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Tahirukaj 9	(20–8)	Shingjini 7
	2× 3×	Report	1× 2×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Luxembourg	3	3	0	0	111	86	+25	6	Quarterfinals
2	Georgia	3	2	0	1	91	81	+10	4
3	Great Britain	3	1	0	2	80	89	−9	2
4	Malta	3	0	0	3	65	91	−26	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

12 June 2017 18:00	Luxembourg	35–29	Georgia	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Doychinov, Gpretsov (BUL)
	Muller 10	(18–14)	Orjonikidze, Tskhovrebadze 6
	2× 6×	Report	3× 5×

12 June 2017 20:00	Malta	18–24	Great Britain	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Sá, Sá (POR)
	Di Pilato 9	(8–12)	Negrete Lindsay 10
	3× 5×	Report	2× 5×

---

13 June 2017 18:00	Georgia	34–26	Great Britain	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Vujačić, Kažanegra (MNE)
	Orjonikidze 7	(17–11)	Negrete Lindsay 6
	3× 7×	Report	4× 8×

13 June 2017 20:00	Luxembourg	39–27	Malta	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Boričić, Marković (SRB)
	Muller 8	(17–11)	Baldacchino 8
	3× 4×	Report	3× 4×

---

14 June 2017 18:00	Great Britain	30–37	Luxembourg	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Goodwin 10	(11–20)	Muller 9
	3× 5×	Report	2× 9× 1×

14 June 2017 20:00	Georgia	28–20	Malta	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Zhou, Cheng (CHN)
	Bulbulashvili, Orjonikidze 5	(19–9)	Harrison 4
	3× 4×	Report	3× 2×

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cyprus	3	3	0	0	96	64	+32	6	Quarterfinals
2	Bulgaria (H)	3	2	0	1	101	75	+26	4
3	Azerbaijan	3	1	0	2	93	96	−3	2
4	Andorra	3	0	0	3	53	108	−55	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts

12 June 2017 18:30	Cyprus	25–22	Bulgaria	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Bolic, Hurich (AUT)
	Argyrou 12	(11–12)	Dimitrov 11
	3× 8×	Report	2× 7×

12 June 2017 20:30	Andorra	23–31	Azerbaijan	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Pascual 6	(6–15)	Butenko 10
	4× 4×	Report	3× 1×

---

13 June 2017 18:00	Bulgaria	41–34	Azerbaijan	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Jerlecki, Łabuń (POL)
	Dimitrov 15	(20–15)	Askerov 10
	2× 9× 1×	Report	2× 6× 1×

13 June 2017 20:00	Cyprus	39–14	Andorra	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Xhema, Jahja (KOS)
	Antreou 9	(19–7)	Bernabé, Pascual 3
	2× 5×	Report	2× 5×

---

14 June 2017 18:00	Bulgaria	38–16	Andorra	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Hollis, Le-Mon (GBR)
	Dimitrov 16	(19–6)	Toha 4
	2× 7×	Report	1× 3×

14 June 2017 20:00	Azerbaijan	28–32	Cyprus	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Sá, Sá (POR)
	Askerov 8	(13–18)	Argyrou 14
	3× 6×	Report	4× 6× 2×

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Faroe Islands	3	3	0	0	114	59	+55	6	Quarterfinals
2	China	3	2	0	1	95	64	+31	4
3	Moldova	3	1	0	2	98	82	+16	2
4	Armenia	3	0	0	3	31	133	−102	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

12 June 2017 14:00	Armenia	13–46	Moldova	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Zendali, Riello (ITA)
	Sahakyan 5	(7–20)	Untu 10
	3× 1×	Report	3× 2×

12 June 2017 16:00	China	23–30	Faroe Islands	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Liu, Wang J. 6	(7–15)	Klein Olsen 6
	3× 8×	Report	4× 3×

---

13 June 2017 14:00	China	43–12	Armenia	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Bennani, Bennani (SWE)
	Wang J. 11	(21–4)	Sahakyan 6
	2× 4×	Report	2× 5× 1×

13 June 2017 16:00	Faroe Islands	40–30	Moldova	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Bolic, Hurich (AUT)
	Krogh 7	(21–16)	Zacaciurin 8
	2× 2×	Report	1× 2×

---

14 June 2017 14:00	Moldova	22–29	China	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Vujačić, Kažanegra (MNE)
	Zacaciurin 7	(11–15)	He 7
	3× 1×	Report	3× 4×

14 June 2017 16:00	Faroe Islands	44–6	Armenia	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Zendali, Riello (ITA)
	Klein Olsen 8	(18–1)	Sahakyan 3
	1× 3×	Report	1× 1×

Knockout stage

9–16th place bracket

	13th place					13–16th place semifinals					9–16th place quarterfinals					9–12th place semifinals					Ninth place
											Ireland		31
											Malta		22
						Malta		34								Ireland		33
						Armenia		23								Azerbaijan		41
											Azerbaijan		39
											Armenia		21
	Malta		36																		Azerbaijan		31
	Andorra		25																		Moldova		45
											Great Britain		42
											Albania		15
	15th place					Albania		23								Great Britain		34			Eleventh place
						Andorra		32								Moldova (pen.)		35
	Armenia		23								Moldova		48								Ireland		26
	Albania		24								Andorra		14								Great Britain		39

9–16th place quarterfinals

16 June 2017 14:00	Ireland	31–22	Malta	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Vujačić, Kažanegra (MNE)
	J. Krohn 9	(15–9)	Di Pilato 7
	2× 2×	Report	4× 6×

---

16 June 2017 14:00	Azerbaijan	39–21	Armenia	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Duplii, Kaverina (UKR)
	Butenko 10	(21–7)	Sahakyan 6
	1× 4×	Report	4× 1×

---

16 June 2017 16:00	Great Britain	42–15	Albania	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Bennani, Bennani (SWE)
	Whaley 8	(19–8)	Shingjini 6
	3× 4×	Report	1× 7×

---

16 June 2017 16:00	Moldova	48–14	Andorra	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Untu 12	(24–6)	Toha, Travesset 3
	1× 2×	Report	3×

13–16th place semifinals

17 June 2017 18:00	Malta	34–23	Armenia	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Jerlecki, Łabuń (POL)
	Naudi 9	(18–13)	Sahakyan 8
	1× 4×	Report	3× 2×

---

17 June 2017 20:00	Albania	23–32	Andorra	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Sá, Sá (POR)
	Lala 7	(9–11)	Toha 12
	4× 3×	Report	2× 7×

9–12th place semifinals

17 June 2017 14:00	Ireland	33–41	Azerbaijan	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Zhou, Cheng (CHN)
	T. Krohn 8	(18–20)	Malyarevich 14
	2× 3×	Report	3×

---

17 June 2017 16:00	Great Britain	34–35	Moldova	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Duplii, Kaverina (UKR)
	Negrete 9	(17–17)	Untu, Zacaciurin 11
	4× 3×	Report	2× 4×
	FT: 33–33  Pen: 1–2

15th place game

18 June 2017 10:00	Armenia	23–24	Albania	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Zhou, Cheng (CHN)
	Sahakyan 10	(12–11)	Shingjini 7
	4× 8×	Report	4× 6×

13th place game

18 June 2017 12:15	Malta	36–25	Andorra	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Hollis, Le-Mon (GBR)
	Naudi 7	(21–10)	three players 6
	4×	Report	1× 2×

Eleventh place game

18 June 2017 16:45	Ireland	26–39	Great Britain	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Bregazzi 7	(12–20)	Goodwin 7
	2× 5× 1×	Report	5×

Ninth place game

18 June 2017 14:30	Azerbaijan	31–45	Moldova	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Vujačić, Kažanegra (MNE)
	Butenko 9	(14–22)	Zacaciurin 14
	2× 2×	Report	2× 3×

Championship bracket

	Fifth place					5–8th place semifinals					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
											Turkey		32
											Georgia		26
						Georgia		28								Turkey (OT)		35
						China		31								Cyprus		32
											Cyprus		36
											China		26
	China		30																		Turkey		25
	Bulgaria		38																		Faroe Islands		26
											Luxembourg		23
											Kosovo		34
	Seventh place					Luxembourg		31								Kosovo		30			Third place
						Bulgaria		37								Faroe Islands		33
	Georgia		25								Faroe Islands		30								Cyprus		25
	Luxembourg		32								Bulgaria		24								Kosovo		32

Quarterfinals

16 June 2017 18:00	Turkey	32–26	Georgia	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Xhema, Jahja (KOS)
	Döne 15	(16–15)	Orjonikidze 8
	3× 4×	Report	2× 5×

---

16 June 2017 18:00	Cyprus	36–26	China	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Boričić, Marković (SRB)
	Georgiou 9	(16–9)	Liu Z. 7
	3× 6×	Report	3× 5×

---

16 June 2017 20:00	Luxembourg	23–34	Kosovo	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Jerlecki, Łabuń (POL)
	Krier 6	(11–17)	Dedaj 9
	2× 6×	Report	4× 7×

---

16 June 2017 20:00	Faroe Islands	30–24	Bulgaria	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Sigurbjørnsson 9	(13–14)	Yakubov 6
	2× 2×	Report	1× 4×

5–8th place semifinals

17 June 2017 14:00	Georgia	28–31	China	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Zendali, Riello (ITA)
	Tskhovrebadze 9	(11–15)	Wang J. 12
	3× 4×	Report	3× 6× 1×

---

17 June 2017 16:00	Luxembourg	31–37	Bulgaria	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Boričić, Marković (SRB)
	Zekan 6	(13–20)	Dimitrov 13
	3× 11×	Report	3× 6×

Semifinals

17 June 2017 18:00	Turkey	35–32 (ET)	Cyprus	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Doychinov, Gpretsov (BUL)
	Biçer 11	(13–15)	Argyrou 10
	3× 5× 1×	Report	2× 4×
	FT: 26–26  ET: 3–3, 6–3

---

17 June 2017 20:00	Kosovo	30–33	Faroe Islands	Sportna Zala, Gabrovo Referees: Bolic, Hurich (AUT)
	Dedaj, Jupa 6	(11–15)	Krogh 9
	1× 4×	Report	2× 5× 1×

Seventh place game

18 June 2017 14:15	Georgia	25–32	Luxembourg	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Xhema, Jahja (KOS)
	Bulbulashvili 5	(10–15)	Muller 8
	2× 5×	Report	3× 9×

Fifth place game

18 June 2017 16:30	China	30–38	Bulgaria	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Wang J. 8	(11–18)	Atanasov 8
	1× 4× 1×	Report	3× 3× 1×

Third place game

18 June 2017 18:45	Cyprus	25–32	Kosovo	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Zendali, Riello (ITA)
	Fotiou 9	(12–16)	Tahirukaj 8
	2× 5×	Report	2× 5× 1×

Final

18 June 2017 21:00	Turkey	25–26	Faroe Islands	Vasil Levski Palace of Culture and Sports, Veliko Tarnovo Referees: Boričić, Marković (SRB)
	Biçer 6	(11–13)	Krogh 9
	3× 6×	Report	4× 5×

Final standings

Rank	Team
	Faroe Islands
	Turkey
	Kosovo
4	Cyprus
5	Bulgaria
6	China
7	Luxembourg
8	Georgia
9	Moldova
10	Azerbaijan
11	Great Britain
12	Ireland
13	Malta
14	Andorra
15	Albania
16	Armenia

Teams advanced to the 2nd phase of qualification for EURO 2020

Statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Name Team Goals Shots % 1 Svetlin Dimitrov   Bulgaria 65 92 71 2 Maxim Butenko   Azerbaijan 55 84 65 3 Roman Zacaciurin   Moldova 54 86 63 4 Julios Argyrou   Cyprus 51 72 71 5 Wang Juncheng   China 49 95 52 6 Dinu Untu   Moldova 45 63 71 7 Martin Muller   Luxembourg 44 71 62 8 Joshua Krohn Grace   Ireland 43 85 51 9 Igli Shingjini   Albania 42 92 46 10 Brian Negrete Lindsay   Great Britain 40 63 63 Source: IHF

Top goalkeepers Rank Name Team % Saves Shots 1 Eliesar Rubeksen   Faroe Islands 68 23 34 2 Antonis Papayiannis   Cyprus 54 13 24 3 Ion Saharnean   Moldova 45 51 113 4 Armir Agushi   Kosovo 41 24 59 5 Mehmet Emre   Turkey 40 42 106 6 Mihail Penev   Bulgaria 39 52 134 7 Coşkun Göktepe   Turkey 35 45 127 8 Liu Maike   China 34 50 146 9 Ivan Ivanov   Bulgaria 33 42 126 Jan Pauli Johannesen   Faroe Islands 60 180 Alexander Bradley   Great Britain 48 144 Source: IHF

References

1. "2nd IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship". ihf.info. 31 March 2017.
2. "Faroe Islands defend Emerging Nations Championship title". ihf.info. 18 June 2017.
3. "Press Bulletin Final Day at the IHF Emerging Nations Men's Championship". Bulgarian Handball Federation. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
4. "Draw results for 2nd IHF Emerging Nations Championship". ihf.info. 8 March 2017.
5. "Referee Nominations 2017 – IHF Emerging Nations Men's Handball Championship 2017 - Bulgaria". ihf.info. 18 June 2017.
6. "2nd IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship match schedule released". ihf.info. 11 April 2017.
7. Media Guide

External links

• IHF website