North Macedonia's youth handball: men up to 16th on EHF list, women drop to 23rd
Men's youth side up one place to 16th in EHF rankings; women's ranking slips four places to 23rd with little effect on seeding.
North Macedonia's men's youth handball team moved up one place in the latest European Handball Federation (EHF) national youth rankings and now sits 16th, while the women's youth side dropped four places and will be 23rd in the next cycle.
The EHF ranking determines seedings for the draws that will form groups for the upcoming qualification phase of the European U18 Championship. The men's improvement — a single-place rise from the previous list — does not change the seeding allocation ahead of the cadet qualifiers.
What the positions mean for qualification
Only the top eight teams in the ranking qualify directly for the European Championship; the remaining nations must play qualification matches. That rule means North Macedonia's men's team will still aim to secure a spot through the qualifiers, despite the modest rise in the standings.
In the women's ranking, North Macedonia falls from 19th to 23rd in the next cycle, a four-place decline that likewise does not produce major changes to the list of seeded teams for qualifying.
At the top of the men's rankings remain Denmark, Germany and Spain. For the women's competition the leading three nations are Denmark, Spain and France. Five countries that will not take part in qualifiers for the U18 European Championship are Sweden, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia and Iceland.
The updated EHF lists give national federations a clearer picture of their seeding ahead of the draw and set the framework for which teams will need to contest qualification matches and which will qualify automatically.
Photo: press material from the event
