Belarus (BLR)

The Belarusian standard at EHF EURO events is tenth, their final position at the previous three tournaments.

Head coach Iouri Chevtsov’s team are set to play their seventh EHF EURO, and their sixth in a row. Chevtsov has led the team since 2009, building a squad including many rising stars from EHF Champions League clubs.

One of them is right wing Mikita Vailupau, who was second-best scorer at the EHF EURO 2020 (just below Sander Sagosen/NOR) and second-best scorer of the EHF Champions League season 2020/21. Next summer, Vailupau will make the next step of his career, moving from Meshkov Brest to Veszprém.

Besides Vailupau, others such as left wing Andrei Yurynok, the line players Artsem Karalek and Viachaslau Bokhan or the tall left back Uladzislau Kulesh have developed and gained experience in the last years. Between the posts, the Meshkov duo Viachaslau Saldatsenka and Ivan Matskevich stand as a wall, combined with a strong defence.

Although Belarus are quite a young squad, they are well-rehearsed, as they have played together for many years. In qualification, Belarus finished second below Norway and even beat the EHF EURO 2020 bronze medallists once – both finished with 10 points from six matches.

They find themselves once again in a group with Germany and Austria; in 2020, they lost 22:31 to Germany, and drew 36:36 with Austria.

Belarus’ best EHF EURO final ranking is still eighth at the first edition of the tournament in 1994.