by Ian Marshall, Editor
Following success at the recent European Games in Minsk, Germany starts very much the favourites to claim both titles, a feat they achieved at the 2013 European Championships in Schwechat.
Imposing in the Belarus capital city, at the final hurdle with Timo Boll, Patrick Franziska and Dimitrij Ovtcharov on duty, a 3-0 margin of victory was recorded against Sweden’s Mattias Falck, Kristian Karlsson and Jon Persson. Likewise, selecting Han Ying and Nina Mittelham alongside Shan Xiaona who replaced the injured Petrissa Solja, the same margin of victory in the gold medal contest was recorded against Romania’s Daniela Monteiro-Dodean, Elizabeta Samara and Bernadette Szocs.
Notably the win reversed the decision of two years earlier at the European Team Championships in Luxembourg when in the vital concluding match of the contest, Daniela Monteiro-Dodean had beaten Han Ying to secure a 3-2 win and the title for Romania. Now in Nantes, they could well meet again; Germany occupies the second seeded position ahead of Hungary, nine times the champions and four time winners, the Netherlands.
In Nantes, Germany appears in the same group as Italy and Slovenia, for Hungary the opponents are Belarus and Belgium; the Netherlands confronts the Czech Republic and Serbia. Ukraine, Sweden, Portugal and France complete the top eight seeded nations.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event, Sweden, the winner on no less than 14 occasions but never since 2002 in Zagreb, occupies the second seeded spot followed France and Austria. Sweden competes in the same group as Romania and Hungary, France alongside Slovakia and Spain, for Austria the adversaries are Denmark and Ukraine. Slovenia, Belarus, Poland and Greece occupy the next for seeded positions
Overall, following two years of qualification with fixtures played on a home and away basis, a stage in which the defending champions and the host were not required to compete, a total of 24 teams will be present in each of the men’s and women’s events in Nantes.
Playing Format
Play is conducted initially in eight groups with three teams in each group; teams finishing in first place in each group advance to the quarter-finals, the remaining teams are eliminated.
Liebherr 2019 European Team Championships: Prospectus
Liebherr 2019 European Team Championships: Men’s Team & Women’s Team – Seeding
Liebherr 2019 European Team Championships: Schedule of Play
Liebherr 2019 European Team Championships: Television Schedule
Liebherr 2019 European Team Championships: Men’s Team – Group Stage
Liebherr 2019 European Team Championships: Women’s Team – Group Stage
