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 edit

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

Veliko Tarnovo
Gabrovo	Gabrovo Veliko Tarnovo
Orlovetz Sports Hall Capacity: 1,920

Palace of Culture and Sport Capacity: 1,600

Participating teams edit

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)

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

Draw edit

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

Seeding edit

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 edit

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 edit

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

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

Tie-breaking criteria edit

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]

Number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question
Goal difference in the matches among the teams in question
Number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
Goal difference in all the group matches
Number of goals scored in all the group matches
Drawing of lots

Group A edit

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

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

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

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

9–16th place bracket edit


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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit


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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

Top goalscorers edit

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 edit

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 edit

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

External links edit

IHF website

[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

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