The north-eastern city of Tuzla will host the 2018 edition of the IHF/EHF Women’s Trophy from Tuesday, 29 May until Sunday, 3 June in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

The competition for Europe’s developing handball nations features eight teams from across the continent, including: Estonia (EST), Moldova (MDA), Great Britain (GBR), Belgium (BEL), Cyprus (CYP), Azerbaijan (AZE), Luxembourg (LUX) and the hosts, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH).

 

The preliminary round has the eight teams split into two groups of four each - Group A: EST, BEL, MDA, CYP and Group B: GBR, LUX, AZE, BIH – with the top two teams in the round-robin format qualifying directly through to the semi-finals. The final will be played on Sunday 3 June.

 

Held every two years, the first edition of the tournament started back in 2000 in Antwerp (BEL) with Bosnia and Herzegovina taking the honours in the six-team competition, but the next three editions saw the host nation win the title. In 2002 in Baku (AZE), in 2004 in Mezzocorona, Italy, and 2006 in Vogosca (BIH).

 

Finland then won the next two events, in 2008 in Larnaca (CYP) and in 2010 in a tournament held in three countries – Ramat Gan/Tel-Aviv in Israel, Viimsi (EST) and Aalborg in Denmark, where the final was played in the Gigantium Arena in the middle of the group stages of the 2010 Women’s EHF EURO.

 

In 2012 hosts Bulgaria claimed the title at home in a competition played in both Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo – and the Bulgarians proved their strength on the road, winning in Larissa in Greece in 2014.

 

The last edition, in 2016, saw the IHF/EHF Women's Trophy hosted in Tbilisi, Georgia with the Faroe Islands winning the title. A men’s competition has run every two years, starting back in 1999.

 

MATCH SCHEDULE

 

Tuesday 29 May

12:30    EST vs BEL

14:30    MDA vs CYP

16:30    GBR vs LUX

18:30    AZE vs BIH

 

Wednesday 30 May

12:30    CYP vs EST

14:30    BEL vs MDA

16:30    LUX vs AZE

18:30    BIH vs GBR

 

Thursday 31 May

12:30    BEL vs CYP

14:30    EST vs MDA

16:30    AZE vs GBR

18:30    BIH vs LUX

 

Friday 1 June

Rest Day

 

Saturday 2 June

12:30    Placement Round 5-8

14:30    Placement Round 5-8

16:30    Semi-Final 1

18:30    Semi-Final 2

 

Sunday 3 June

11:00    Placement Match 7/8

13:00    Placement Match 5/6

15:00    Bronze Medal

17:00    Final

 

All games will be streamed live and free on ehfTV.com. Click HERE to watch.