GB Impress at Under-20 European Championship

The GB Under-20 Men’s Handball Team finished 8th at the 2022 EHF European Championship in Bulgaria in July, after some exceptional results.

Zoran Lukac took over as Head Coach just three months before the Championship and set about preparing the squad for a challenging time ahead. Clearly the time was well used, as the GB team pulled off some impressive performances at the European Championship, in their first competition since a two year Covid lockdown.

GB opened with a solid result against Greece, losing 37-26, after holding their on for much of the game. In their second game, against eventual competition winners Israel, GB lost 33-21, again after a strong performance for much of the game. GB then lost 27-21 in a close game with Luxembourg, before pulling off a superb 31-24 win against Lithuania, to secure fourth place in group B.

In the 5-8 play-off match against Ukraine, GB were unlucky to lose 26-20 against Ukraine, before a strong performance against Luxembourg saw them lost 29-26 to take 8th place.

Tiago Babb with 24 goals, and Reuben Wardle with 23 were GB’s top scorers.

Their performance in Bulgaria drew compliments from numerous sources and left the GB M20 programme in a very good space for the future.

Head Coach Zoran Lukac said “I am so proud of these boys, they have come such a long way in the three months we have worked together, and I could not have asked for more from them. They battled hard in the championship and thoroughly deserved their win against Lithuania.”

“We would like to thank the Bulgarian Federation and EHF for organising an excellent tournament and thank our opponents for some great games. I am also very grateful to our entire staff who did an outstanding job. It’s time to go home and start preparing for the next Championship.”

British Handball Chairman Paul Bray added “The GB M20 performance was truly heroic. They played to a very high standard and deserve all the praise they have received. After two years with no activity whatsoever, Zoran and the team did an outstanding job at this championship. The future looks bright for this cohort.”

GB M20 European Championship results:

GB-Greece 26-37

GB-Israel 21-33

GB-Luxembourg 21-27

GB-Lithuania 31-24

5-8 Play-offs:

GB-Ukraine 20-26

GB-Luxembourg 26-29

GB M20 squad:

Photo: EHF/Bulgarian Handball federation