IWRF announces 2017 European Championships

The 2017 International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) European Championship Division A will be held from 24 June to 1 July, in Koblenz, Germany, the IWRF has announced.

The European Championship Division A will bring together the top eight teams from the IWRF European Zone. Host country Germany will be joined by reigning European champions Great Britain, along with Denmark, France, Ireland, and Sweden, all of which finished in the top six at the 2015 Championships A Division. Rounding out the draw will be Finland and Poland, which qualified for Division A by finishing in the top two at the 2016 European Championship Division B, held earlier this year in Nottwil, Switzerland.

The 2017 Championships Division A is a direct qualifier for the 2018 IWRF World Championship in Sydney, Australia, where the top four teams from the 2017 Europeans will be invited to the Worlds. Teams finishing out of the top four will still have a chance to qualify through the World Championship Qualification Tournament, to be held in early 2018.

The tournament draw for the Championships Division A will be held by the IWRF in January.

This is the first time Germany has hosted the IWRF European Championship. Germany was one of the first countries in Europe to take up wheelchair rugby and has participated in every European Championship since the first in 1995.