The Colombia Handball Federation have been awarded the rights to host the first-ever ‘IHF South and Central American Emerging Nations Men’s Championship’.

The event  is set to be held at the Coliseo Cubierto in Palmira, western Colombia, over the period from 22-28 October 2018 with the exact dates of competition, and match schedule, to be confirmed after participating nations have provided their final confirmation to the IHF.

 

Besides hosts Colombia (COL), Bolivia (BOL), Costa Rica (CRC), Ecuador (ECU), El Salvador (ESA), French Guiana (GUF,  Guatemala (GUA), Honduras (HON), Nicaragua (NCA), Panama (PAN), Paraguay (PAR) and Peru (PER), have all expressed their intention of participating ahead of the registration deadline.

 

The IHF Emerging Nations Championship is for players aged 16-24 years old with up to three players older than 24 allowed in the playing squad. All delegations (players and officials) have a maximum of up to 17 persons.

 

The 1st South and Central American Emerging Nations Men’s Championship builds on the success of the first two IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championships held in Kosovo (2015) and Bulgaria (2017) which focussed on nations from the European Handball Federation who are part of the IHF’s ‘Four-Year Plan’.