Germany will be aiming to defend the title they won two years ago in Ramenskoe, Russia, where they upset the odds to beat the favourites Denmark.

The Danes remain the team to beat however, and qualified automatically for the competition as Europe's top-ranked nation at the time of the draw, alongside number two ranked England and number three Russia.

The Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, France and Sweden all came through the qualification process in November of last year and join hosts Belgium in the group stages.

Group 1, which pits Denmark against Poland and The Netherlands, has been labelled as the "group of death".

The Poles are likely to have their customary strength in men's and mixed doubles, but a lack of experience in singles could prove their undoing, while the Dutch will be hoping that they have enough to reach the quarter-finals with a host of top class doubles and mixed doubles pairings at their disposal.

England are the seeded nation in Group 2 but Ireland and Belgium are expected to provide stern opposition.

Doubles pairing Chloe Magee and Sam Magee, and the man of 2014 Scott Evans, will all feel they can deliver three match wins for the Irish, while Belgium will undoubtedly be buoyed by the home support.

Spain's Carolina Marin will be aiming to help her country earn a quarter-final berth ©BadmintonPhoto



Defending champions Germany headline Group 3, but a lot has changed for them since their triumph in 2013.

They are without Marc Zwiebler, who sustained an injury in the German National Championships last week, and with National women's singles champion Olga Konon also cast adrift from the set-up, Scotland and Spain look to be in a good position to capitalise in the women's singles particularly.

Group 4 is likely to see a shoot-out between Russia and France for the top spot, with Sweden the rank outsiders.

The French have a strong mix of young talent and experienced players, while Russia will be looking to 2014 European Champions Ivan Sozonov and Vladimir Ivanov to lead the line for them.

The top two from each of the four groups will advance to the quarter-finals.

The four group winners will avoid each other in the last eight with the four runners-up being drawn openly to play against one of them.

The two teams progressing from the same group cannot be placed on the same side of the knock-out stages draw.

Russias Ivan Sozonov (left) and Vladimir Ivanov (right) head Russia's charge for success ©Getty Images




The Championships are set to reach over 290 million households on three continents - Europe, Asia and America - while Badminton Europe's digital stream, through its YouTube channel, is set to hit 192 countries.

Through both traditional broadcasting and social media, the event is set to be the most highly-accessible European badminton team event of the year.

The Championships will be shown live on the Danish television channel TV3, which reaches three million households in Denmark and Sweden.

The event will be also shown on Finish channel Nelonen Pro and on Russian channel Poverkhnost, while Turkish sports channel SportsTV, which reach 18 million households, will cover a European badminton event for the first time.

Additionally, Indonesia, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India will televise the Championships, along with the United States' television channel Universal Sports. 

"I am very happy with the TV-exposure for our European Mixed Team Championships in Leuven," said Brian Agerbak, general secretary of Badminton Europe.

"Reaching close to 200 million households signifies the commercial value of the event and places Leuven on the map of cities organising major events in Europe.

"Also for the teams and players coming to the event, as well as the local organisation, the many volunteers and of course our events partners this is positive news."

The action begins with group matches in three sessions for two days.

The quarter-finals will be played in two sessions on Friday (February 13), with the semi-finals again in two sessions on Saturday (February 14) and the finals on Sunday (February 15).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2014: France to host four major European Badminton Championships