European Handball Federation announced that Norwegian teams Haslum HK and OIF Arendal won’t join EHF European League Round 1 matches due COVID19 pandemic reasons.
“As a consequence, the opponents of both teams, IFK Kristianstad (SWE) and KS Azoty-Pulawy (POL) are qualified to the EHF European League Qualification Round 2. The matches were foreseen for the weekends of 29/30 August and 5/6 September. Following a number of organizational efforts on all sides, it became more and more obvious that the restrictions of the authorities in Norway would make it very difficult for the teams of Arendal and Haslum to carry out these matches. Despite several efforts of the clubs it finally had to be stated that these matches can not take place without too heavy burdens on Arendal and Haslum incl. a period of quarantine for the complete team. This would also be the case if the matches were to take place on a neutral ground or only in the country of the opponent. The EHF regrets this situation very much especially for the two Norwegian clubs, however, the current development around the Covid-19 restrictions did not leave any room for a different outcome”, EHF stated.
