Defending champions from the Czech Republic who will play at home. Regular participants from Sweden, Finland or Switzerland. What other countries will compete for the title of world junior champions?
The 2021 Junior World Championships will take place again in the Czech Republic after eighteen years and in Brno, the Moravian metropolis one hundred kilometres from Vienna, for the first time. All teams will play their matches in the Vodova arena, the capacity of the main arena is almost three thousand spectators, the small arena will welcome up to 900 fans.
A total of 28 countries have registered for the tournament, including tournament regulars as well as complete novices. Singapore will join the U19 WFC for the first time since 2005, while China will have its complete premiere in Brno.
This event will be played with 16 teams and there is no longer A- & B-division. The teams will be divided into four groups in one division based on ranking and a ballot. Groups A/B and C/D are divided according to ranking (based on results from U19 WFC 2019) and a group ballot will be held after the qualification events to decide the final four groups.
Nine European teams qualified for the tournament automatically thanks to the results from the U19 WFC 2019 in Halifax, the remaining seven places will be decided by regional qualifications. The final form of the groups will be complemented by three teams from Europe, three from Asia and Oceania and one from the American continent. Qualifying tournaments will take place at the end of 2020.
Already qualified teams include the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Latvia, Slovakia, Denmark, Norway and Germany.
Slovenia, Russia, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom will also compete for the chance to play in Brno in the European qualification. The three finalists will also emerge from the Asian and Ocean qualifiers, where Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China will meet. Canada and the USA will compete for the remaining place.
You can find the table of groups and qualifications HERE