The handball sets the qualifier for the women's European Championships in December and men's World Cup in January because of the corona pandemic. Instead, it is the placements from the latest European Championships that determine which countries will play the championships.

As a result, the Swedish women's national team will be ready for the European Championships in Norway and Denmark and the men will play the World Cup in Egypt - without having to play clearly the qualification.

- It is nice that we are qualified. The alternative would have been to play the qualifiers, but it is not possible. Then this was the best option.

- I think I could see that the countries that usually play European Championships were included. The teams that were ranked highest in the recent championships have been selected. I don't know how many other countries had qualified. I don't know if there was any team not allowed to play championships that usually play championships.

"It was quite expected"

The qualifications for the major championships will be ironed out so that there will not be too many matches to play for the players in the coming year where there will also be an Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer.

- Actually, this would have been a year of a lot of matches. Now it will be next year instead, so it's really just pushed forward.

The women's team would have played their European qualifiers in March and May, while the men had World Cup qualifiers scheduled in June. Those matches are now completely deleted.

- It was quite expected that we would not be able to play these matches right now. The question was how they would be resolved during the fall. But right now you don't think so far ahead. There is so much else in mind right now.

The Olympic qualification is played in 2021

The European Handball Federation (EHF) has also decided that the Olympic qualification for Tokyo will be played in the spring of 2021, at dates not yet determined. Both Swedish national teams have the chance to reach the games in Japan next summer.

In addition, the EHF clears the eighth and quarter finals in the men's and women's Champions League. Instead, the team winners Barcelona, ​​Paris SG, Kiel and Veszprem from Hungary go straight to the Final Four playoffs in Cologne, which will be decided in December.

On the women's side, EHF is looking into the possibility of playing the quarterfinals in connection with the Final Four weekend in Budapest in September.