This year the European Mixed Team Championships will be taking place in Aire-sur-la-Lys, northern France. From 14 - 18 February , eight countries will compete for the trophy, which will be awarded to the best European team.
The qualification stage of the tournament began in December and 26 countries participated in the event. The countries were divided into five qualification groups, in five different locations. Out of 26, only five countries qualified for the final stage of the championships in Aire-sur-la-Lys. Those were England, Scotland, Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Denmark (defending champion), Germany (best ranked team not directly qualified) and France (host) were already automatically qualified in advance.
Denmark, with a history of winning a total of 18 times and led by World and Olympic Champion Viktor Axelsen, will be the team to beat to reach for gold. The reigning champions will be challenged by Germany, stacked with European champions Mark Lamsfuss, Isabel Lohau and Marvin Seidel. And also France, the hosting nation, will try to climb the top of the mountain on home soil. France was last time's runner-up and has a strong team with names like Thom Gicquel, Delphine Delrue, and Toma Popov on the list. And they will for sure have the crowds support on their side.
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Bulgaria, Netherlands, Scotland, England and Ukraine are the remaining contestants in this BEC event and we will have a closer look at those teams in our next preview. The eight participating countries are split into two groups.
Group A: Denmark, England, Scotland, and Ukraine.
Group B: Germany, France, Netherlands, and Bulgaria.
The group matches will be played on three days (14-16 February), and the semifinals and finals will occupy the last two (17-18 February). In Group A, Denmark against Ukraine and England against Scotland will be the first matches on Tuesday 14 February at 10.00 CET. In Group B, Germany versus Bulgaria and France versus the Netherlands will be the first in line at 16.00 CET.
All matches will be streamed for free on
badmintoneurope.tv