The first European Younger Age Category event of the summer will begin when the first of two Men's 20 EHF Championships 2022 in Bulgaria throws off on Saturday 2 July.
In total, nine nations will participate at the M20 EHF Championship 1 2022 in Varna from Saturday 2 July until Sunday 10 July. While group A contains four teams and group B features five sides, two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals, which will both take place on Saturday 9 July. The final and the bronze medal match are due to be played on Sunday 10 July.
At the draw event in February, Czech Republic, Latvia, Finland and Bulgaria were drawn in group A, while Austria, Netherlands, Slovakia, Türkiye and Georgia were placed in group B.
Last summer, in the corresponding age group, Austria finished 16th at the M19 EHF EURO 2021 in Croatia. Having finished as the runners-up at the M19 EHF Championship 2021 in Latvia, Netherlands will bid to go one step further in Bulgaria. Netherlands will face Austria in the final round of preliminary round matches in group B on Thursday 7 July.
In group A, Czech Republic, Finland and Bulgaria will play at the same event in Bulgaria for the second summer in a row. In 2021, Czech Republic finished third at the M19 EHF Championship in Bulgaria – but Finland and Bulgaria placed sixth and seventh respectively in the seven-team tournament. Czech Republic's biggest test in group A may come against Latvia, who ranked fourth at the M19 EHF Championship 2021 in Latvia.
The full schedule and standings for the Men's 20 EHF Championships 2022 in Bulgaria can be found here: tournament 1 and tournament 2.
The second M20 EHF Championship 2022 will commence on Saturday 16 July and conclude on Sunday 24 July.
Follow the action on EHFTV and EHF social media
The M20 EHF Championships will be streamed live on EHFTV. There will also be up-to-date coverage on the Home of Handball social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as well as reports on eurohandball.com.