The 2015 IHF Emerging Nations Championship was the first edition of the IHF Emerging Nations Championship, organised by the International Handball Federation (IHF). The tournament was held in Pristina and Gjakova, Kosovo, from 20 to 26 June.

A total of 16 nations played in the tournament: several European teams that did not qualify to the 2014 European Men's Handball Championship, plus Australia, Cameroon, China and Uruguay.

Referees

Following eight referee pairs are selected:

Referees
Referees Andorra Mohamed Bedoui Kouichli Lluis Coll Exposito Bosnia and Herzegovina Kulovic Edin Skaljic Vedad Bulgaria Zvezdelin Yonchev Svetoslav Yovchev Cameroon Ndemdou Blaise Ngassa LaureReferees China Zhou Yunlei Cheng Yufeng United Kingdom Hollis Jason Mark Le-Mon Nicholas Thomas Kosovo Ilir Bytyqi Syart Kasapi Latvia Martins Leitis Ralfs Persis
AndorraMohamed Bedoui Kouichli Lluis Coll Exposito
Bosnia and HerzegovinaKulovic Edin Skaljic Vedad
BulgariaZvezdelin Yonchev Svetoslav Yovchev
CameroonNdemdou Blaise Ngassa Laure
Referees
ChinaZhou Yunlei Cheng Yufeng
United KingdomHollis Jason Mark Le-Mon Nicholas Thomas
KosovoIlir Bytyqi Syart Kasapi
LatviaMartins Leitis Ralfs Persis

Venues

The championship were played at two venues in Pristina and Gjakova in Kosovo.

PristinaGjakovaPristinaGjakova
Palace of Youth and Sports Capacity: 3,000Shani Nushi Sports Hall Capacity: 2,500

Preliminary round

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

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:

  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

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Faroe Islands321013173+585
Kosovo320112177+444
Australia311111985+343
Armenia300346182−1360
20 June 2015 15:15Faroe Islands34–34AustraliaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Bedoui, Coll Exposito (AND)
(16–18)
20 June 2015 18:00Kosovo60–17ArmeniaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 800 Referees: Leitis, Persis (LAT)
(32–4)

21 June 2015 13:30Armenia9–61Faroe IslandsPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Yunlei, Yufeng (CHN)
(4–27)
21 June 2015 18:00Australia24–31KosovoPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Yonchev, Yovchev (BUL)
(12–16)

22 June 2015 13:30Australia61–20ArmeniaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 200 Referees: Bedoui, Coll Exposito (AND)
(28–9)
22 June 2015 18:00Faroe Islands36–30KosovoPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Leitis, Persis (LAT)
(19–12)

Group B

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Estonia320110265+374
Cameroon320110058+424
Great Britain320111071+394
Albania300346164−1180
20 June 2015 13:00Estonia26–27Great BritainPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Yunlei, Yufeng (CHN)
(12–15)
20 June 2015 20:15Cameroon51–12AlbaniaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 300 Referees: Yonchev, Yovchev (BUL)
(25–8)

21 June 2015 15:45Great Britain16–23CameroonPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Leitis, Persis (LAT)
(9–9)
21 June 2015 20:15Albania12–46EstoniaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Bedoui, Coll Exposito (AND)
(6–20)

22 June 2015 15:45Great Britain67–22AlbaniaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 200 Referees: Yunlei, Yufeng (CHN)
(34–8)
22 June 2015 20:15Estonia30–26CameroonPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 200 Referees: Yonchev, Yovchev (BUL)
(14–12)

Group C

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Moldova321012073+475
Malta320181100−194
China31119388+53
Ireland300374107−330
20 June 2015 15:45Moldova43–20IrelandShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 200 Referees: Ndemdou, NGASSA (CMR)
(17–10)
20 June 2015 18:00China28–29MaltaShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 200 Referees: Hollis, Le-Mon (GBR)
(14–13)

21 June 2015 13:30Ireland29–35ChinaShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 100 Referees: Hollis, Le-Mon (GBR)
(14–14)
21 June 2015 15:45Malta23–47MoldovaShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 100 Referees: Kulovic, Skaljic (BIH)
(10–24)

22 June 2015 13:30China30–30MoldovaShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 250 Referees: Ilir, Syart (KOS)
(12–14)
22 June 2015 18:00Malta29–25IrelandShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 250 Referees: Ndemdou, NGASSA (CMR)
(17–10)

Group D

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Latvia33009260+326
Uruguay32018853+354
Bulgaria31029267+252
Andorra300334126−920
20 June 2015 13:30Uruguay38–9AndorraShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 200 Referees: Ilir, Syart (KOS)
(16–4)
20 June 2015 20:15Latvia27–25BulgariaShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 200 Referees: Kulovic, Skaljic (BIH)
(13–12)

21 June 2015 18:00Bulgaria20–28UruguayShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 100 Referees: Ilir, Syart (KOS)
(12–14)
21 June 2015 20:15Andorra13–41LatviaShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 100 Referees: Ndemdou, NGASSA (CMR)
(7–24)

22 June 2015 15:45Latvia26–24UruguayShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 260 Referees: Kulovic, Skaljic (BIH)
(11–13)
22 June 2015 20:15Bulgaria47–12AndorraShani Nushi, Gjakova Attendance: 100 Referees: Hollis, Le-Mon (GBR)
(23–6)

Knockout stage

Championship

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
A1Faroe Islands26
B2Cameroon21
A1Faroe Islands31
A2Kosovo23
B1Estonia30
A2Kosovo31
A1Faroe Islands27
D1Latvia24
C1Moldova23
D2Uruguay34
D2Uruguay21Third place
D1Latvia25
D1Latvia35A2Kosovo28
C2Malta14D2Uruguay16

5th place bracket

Semifinals5th Place
B2Cameroon26
B1Estonia27
B1Estonia37
C1Moldova33
C1Moldova33
C2Malta197th Place
B2Cameroon39
C2Malta13

9th place bracket

--9th place
A3Australia30
B4Albania22
A3Australia26
B3Great Britain32
B3Great Britain38
A4Armenia20
B3Great Britain28
C3China22
C3China39
D4Andorra30
C3China2811th place
D3Bulgaria27
D3Bulgaria46A3Australia35
C4Ireland26D3Bulgaria (PS)36

13th place bracket

Semifinals13th Place
B4Albania37
A4Armenia26
B4Albania29
C4Ireland33
D4Andorra29
C4Ireland3615th Place
A4Armenia15
D4Andorra32

Quarterfinals

24 June 2015 12:30Faroe Islands26–21CameroonPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 200 Referees: Kulovic, Skaljic (BIH)
(13-11)

24 June 2015 15:00Moldova23–34UruguayPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Yonchev, Yovchev (BUL)
(13-18)

24 June 2015 17:30Estonia30–31KosovoPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 1,800 Referees: Leitis, Persis (LAT)
(14-17)

24 June 2015 20:00Latvia35–14MaltaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 100 Referees: Yunlei, Yufeng (CHN)
(17-8)

Semifinals

25 June 2015 17:30Faroe Islands31–23KosovoPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 2,200 Referees: Kulovic, Skaljic (BIH)
(17-15)

25 June 2015 20:00Uruguay21–25LatviaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 200 Referees: Yonchev, Yovchev (BUL)
(10-11)

Third place game

26 June 2015Kosovo28–16UruguayPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 600 Referees: Leitis, Persis (LAT)
(15-8)

Final

26 June 2015Faroe Islands27–24LatviaPallati i Rinisë, Pristina Attendance: 1000 Referees: Kulovic, Skaljic (BIH)
(13-12)

Final ranking

RankTeam
Faroe Islands
Latvia
Kosovo
4Uruguay
5Estonia
6Moldova
7Cameroon
8Malta
9Great Britain
10China
11Bulgaria
12Australia
13Ireland
14Albania
15Andorra
16Armenia
2015 Emerging Nations Championship Winners Faroe Islands First titleTeam Roster: Mikkjal Hansen, Bartal T. Kamban, Bogi Gaard Davidsen, Rókur Rasmusen, Hans Eli Sigurbjørnsson, Rúni Højgaard, Kjartan Johansen, Jóannes Prestá, Áki Egilsnes, Allan Norðberg, Andreas Eriksen, Tróndur Kragesteen, Rókur Akralíð, Tony Hammer Weyhe, . Team Officials: Kári Nielsen, Birgir Hansen, Jákup Duruus.

Awards

Media coverage

RTV21 streams all Kosovo matches and both final and 3rd place matches.

Country / RegionBroadcaster
KosovoRTV21

See also

External links