We have not long to wait now for the finals which crowns Europe’s best team. Here is a look at the past winners of the European Mixed Team Championships.
The 2021 EMTC will take place 16 to 20 February in Vantaa, Finland. The groups were drawn on 12 January.
Group 1 – Denmark, Scotland, Germany, Finland
Group 2 – England, France, Netherlands, Russia
The appeal of such team events is that the above nations will be putting their best players forward in each category to fight for the right to lift the prestigious trophy. It is not enough to have one or two outstanding performances; the champions have to be united and win as a team.
One such team who has medalled at every championships since its inauguration in 1972, is Denmark. Picking up 25 medals, 17 of them gold, is no mean feat. The number one seeds and reigning champions are certainly the team to beat, however, Germany showed how it can be done in 2013, defeating the Danes in the final 3-0. This halted what would have been 10 on the bounce for Denmark.
Other nations who lifted the title are England, who won four of the first seven championships in the seventies and eighties, and Sweden, who recorded back-to-back wins in the early nineties.
There have been seven different nations standing on the European Mixed Team Championships podium. Here is the current medal table.
Medal table:
1) Denmark – 17 Gold, 7 Silver, 1 Bronze
2) England – 5 Gold, 9 Silver, 9 Bronze
3) Sweden – 2 Gold, 4 Silver, 7 Bronze
4) Germany – 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze
5) Netherlands – 2 Silver, 3 Bronze
6) Russia – 1 Silver, 5 Bronze
7) Poland – 2 Bronze
Could the unseeded Scots, the emerging French or the Finnish hosts medal for the first time next month?
For more information about the EMTC, click
here.