2026 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

Last updated March 24, 2024

This article describes the qualification process for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship and EHF Euro Cup.

Format

Prior to the qualification, four teams were automatically qualified:

Denmark, Norway and Sweden as co-hosts;
The best-placed team from the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship, other than the 2026 tournament co-hosts.

The remaining eligible teams contest a qualification tournament to determine the teams securing the remaining 20 places in the final tournament. The qualification tournament consists of three rounds: qualification phase 1, promotion round, and qualification phase 2.^[1]

Qualification phase 1:
- Four teams;
- Round-robin tournament format;
- Top-ranked team after all matches played advances to the promotion round.

Promotion round:
- Six teams:
  - Qualification phase 1 winner,
  - Four of the lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams of the previous cycle qualifiers round,
  - Best European team at the 2023 IHF Emerging Nations Championship;
- Two-legged tie format;
- Three aggregate winners advance to the qualification phase 2.

Qualification phase 2:
- Thirty-two teams:
  - Three promotion round winners
  - Remaining eight teams eliminated in the previous cycle qualifiers round
  - Twenty teams that participated in the 2024 European Championship, but did not qualify directly to the 2026 final tournament
- Round-robin tournament format: eight groups of four teams;
- Group winners, group runners-up, and the four best third-placed teams qualify for the final tournament.

Qualification Phase 1

Since only four teams participate in this round, no draw was needed, other than the hosting rights.^[1]^[2] Although Cyprus had the hosting rights, it declined and the rights moved to Azerbaijan.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Great Britain	3	2	1	0	108	61	+47	5^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Promotion round
2	Cyprus	3	2	1	0	104	74	+30	5^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	Azerbaijan (H)	3	1	0	2	79	96	−17	2
4	Malta	3	0	0	3	65	125	−60	0

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1 2 Cyprus 25–25 Great Britain

Results

All times are local (UTC+4).

13 January 2023 14:45	Cyprus	25–25	Great Britain	Baku Sports Palace, Baku Attendance: 600 Referees: Yovchev, Yonchev (BUL)
	C. Argyrou, Dimosthenous 6	(12–13)	Edgar 10
	2× 4×	Report	1× 2×

13 January 2023 17:00	Azerbaijan	34–25	Malta	Baku Sports Palace, Baku Attendance: 2,200 Referees: Peretz, Schwartz (ISR)
	Muradov 9	(18–6)	Gruppetta, Naudi 5
	1× 2×	Report	1× 3×

14 January 2023 14:45	Malta	26–47	Cyprus	Baku Sports Palace, Baku Attendance: 500 Referees: Peretz, Schwartz (ISR)
	Seifert 6	(12–23)	C. Argyrou 9
	5×	Report	2× 4×

14 January 2023 17:00	Great Britain	39–22	Azerbaijan	Baku Sports Palace, Baku Attendance: 2,100 Referees: Yovchev, Yonchev (BUL)
	White 11	(16–8)	Georgiyevski 9
	1× 1×	Report	2× 1×

15 January 2023 12:45	Great Britain	44–14	Malta	Baku Sports Palace, Baku Attendance: 450 Referees: Peretz, Schwartz (ISR)
	Pereira 17	(23–7)	Mercieca 4
	2× 2×	Report	1×

15 January 2023 15:00	Cyprus	32–23	Azerbaijan	Baku Sports Palace, Baku Attendance: 1,700 Referees: Yovchev, Yonchev (BUL)
	Dimosthenous 8	(18–15)	Mammadov 9
	2× 1×	Report	1× 4×

Promotion round

Six teams participated in this round: the winner of the Phase 1, the four of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship qualification and the best European team of the 2023 IHF Emerging Nations Championship.^[1] The draw took place on 5 July 2023, in Vienna, Austria.^[3]^[4]

Participating teams

Qualification method	Team(s)
Winner of Qualification Phase 1	Great Britain
Four of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the Men's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers	Belgium Kosovo Luxembourg Latvia
Best European team at the 2023 IHF Emerging Nations Championship	Cyprus

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 4 July 2023.^[3]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Belgium Kosovo Luxembourg	Latvia Great Britain Cyprus

Overview

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Latvia	60–61	Luxembourg	32–25	28–36
Kosovo	59–45	Great Britain	30–22	29–23
Belgium	66–40	Cyprus	30–18	36–22

Matches

11 January 2024 18:40	Latvia	32–25	Luxembourg	Valmiera Olympic Center, Valmiera Attendance: 480 Referees: Leszczyński, Piechota (POL)
	Juzups 8	(13–13)	three players 5
	1× 4× 1×	Report	8× 1×

14 January 2024 16:00	Luxembourg	36–28	Latvia	d'Coque, Luxembourg City Attendance: 1,172 Referees: Caçador, Nicolau (POR)
	Hoffmann 9	(21–13)	Geislers 9
	4×	Report	1× 2×

Luxembourg won 61–60 on aggregate.

10 January 2024 20:30	Kosovo	30–22	Great Britain	Palace of Youth and Sports, Prishtina Attendance: 1,150 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	Dedaj 11	(13–11)	Edgar 6
	5×	Report	5×

13 January 2024 14:00	Great Britain	23–29	Kosovo	Derby Arena, Derby Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Horváth, Marton (HUN)
	Plumridgge, Wardle 4	(11–13)	Dedaj 8
	1× 4×	Report	1× 6× 1×

Kosovo won 59–45 on aggregate.

10 January 2024 18:00	Belgium	30–18	Cyprus	Sporthal Alverberg, Hasselt Attendance: 1,970 Referees: Madsen, Mortensen (DEN)
	Glorieux 7	(12–10)	three players 4
	1× 2×	Report	2×

13 January 2024 16:00	Cyprus	22–36	Belgium	Eleftheria Indoor Hall, Nicosia Attendance: 200 Referees: Boričić, Marković (SRB)
	Argyrou 7	(8–15)	Cadel 6
	1× 4×	Report	1× 5×

Belgium won 66–40 on aggregate.

Qualification Phase 2

Phase 2 will be played between November 2024 and May 2025. Like in previous cycles, 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four, to be played as round-robin tournaments. The eight group winners and runners-up qualify for the final tournament, together with the four best third-placed teams, which will be determined taking into account only results against top two teams in each group.^[5] The draw took place on 21 March 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[6]^[7]

Participating teams

Qualification method	Team(s)
Participated in the 2024 European Championship	Germany Hungary Slovenia Portugal Austria Iceland Croatia Netherlands Spain Montenegro Czech Republic Poland North Macedonia Georgia Serbia Faroe Islands Switzerland Romania Greece Bosnia and Herzegovina
Eliminated in Qualification Phase 2 for the 2024 European Championship	Estonia Turkey Italy Slovakia Ukraine Finland Israel Lithuania
Promotion round winners	Belgium Kosovo Luxembourg
Promotion round best loser	Latvia ¹

¹ Following another motion, submitted by the competitions department and confirmed by the EXEC, Latvia, as the best-ranked team not yet qualified, received a place in the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers Phase 2. This one place was until now open due to the non-admittance of Russia and Belarus.^[6]

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 21 February 2024.^[8]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Germany Spain Hungary Croatia Iceland Slovenia Portugal Netherlands	Austria Montenegro Serbia Poland Czech Republic North Macedonia Faroe Islands Greece	Bosnia and Herzegovina Slovakia Belgium Switzerland Romania Lithuania Ukraine Italy	Finland Israel Estonia Georgia Turkey Luxembourg Kosovo Latvia

Groups

Group 1

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Slovenia	Final tournament
2	North Macedonia	Final tournament
3	Lithuania	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Estonia

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

6–7 November 2024	Slovenia	v	Lithuania
		Report

6–7 November 2024	North Macedonia	v	Estonia
		Report

9–10 November 2024	Estonia	v	Slovenia
		Report

9–10 November 2024	Lithuania	v	North Macedonia
		Report

12–13 March 2025	North Macedonia	v	Slovenia
		Report

12–13 March 2025	Estonia	v	Lithuania
		Report

15–16 March 2025	Slovenia	v	North Macedonia
		Report

15–16 March 2025	Lithuania	v	Estonia
		Report

7–8 May 2025	Lithuania	v	Slovenia
		Report

7–8 May 2025	Estonia	v	North Macedonia
		Report

11 May 2025 18:00	Slovenia	v	Estonia
		Report

11 May 2025 18:00	North Macedonia	v	Lithuania
		Report

Group 2

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Hungary	Final tournament
2	Montenegro	Final tournament
3	Slovakia	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Finland

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

6–7 November 2024	Hungary	v	Slovakia
		Report

6–7 November 2024	Montenegro	v	Finland
		Report

9–10 November 2024	Finland	v	Hungary
		Report

9–10 November 2024	Slovakia	v	Montenegro
		Report

12–13 March 2025	Montenegro	v	Hungary
		Report

12–13 March 2025	Finland	v	Slovakia
		Report

15–16 March 2025	Hungary	v	Montenegro
		Report

15–16 March 2025	Slovakia	v	Finland
		Report

7–8 May 2025	Slovakia	v	Hungary
		Report

7–8 May 2025	Finland	v	Montenegro
		Report

11 May 2025 18:00	Hungary	v	Finland
		Report

11 May 2025 18:00	Montenegro	v	Slovakia
		Report

Group 3

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Iceland	Final tournament
2	Greece	Final tournament
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Georgia

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Group 4

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Spain	Final tournament
2	Serbia	Final tournament
3	Italy	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Latvia

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Group 5

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Croatia	Final tournament
2	Czech Republic	Final tournament
3	Belgium	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Luxembourg

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Group 6

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Netherlands	Final tournament
2	Faroe Islands	Final tournament
3	Ukraine	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Kosovo

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Group 7

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Germany	Final tournament
2	Austria	Final tournament
3	Switzerland	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Turkey

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Group 8

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Portugal	Final tournament
2	Poland	Final tournament
3	Romania	Possible final tournament based on ranking
4	Israel

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Ranking of third-placed teams

The results against the fourth-placed team are omitted.

Pos	Grp	Team	Qualification
1	1	Team 1	Final tournament
2	2	Team 2
3	3	Team 3
4	4	Team 4
5	5	Team 5
6	6	Team 6
7	7	Team 7
8	8	Team 8

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) draw.

EHF Euro Cup

The EHF Euro Cup will be played between the 2026 co-hosts Denmark, Norway and Sweden, plus the champions of the 2024 European Championship, France.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Denmark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Norway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Sweden	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 7 November 2024. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Date qualification was secured	Previous appearances in tournament
Denmark	Co-host	20 November 2021	15 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024)
Norway			11 (2000, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 , 2022, 2024)
Sweden			15 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 , 2022 , 2024)
France	Winner of 2024 European Championship	28 January 2024	16 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024)

Note: Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

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References

1 2 3 "EHF EURO 2026 road begins with qualification phase 1 draw". eurohandball.com. 12 October 2022.
↑ "Cyprus wins right to host EHF EURO 2026 qualification tournament". eurohandball.com. 13 October 2022.
1 2 "Draw set for 2025 Men's World Championship qualification". eurohandball.com. 4 July 2023.
↑ "Men's World Championship Qualification draw sets up Baltic clash". eurohandball.com. 5 July 2023.
↑ "Bid brochure EHF EURO 2026 & 2028". eurohandball.com. 2020.
1 2 "Exec takes key decisions for national team competitions". eurohandball.com. 1 February 2024.
↑ "Familiar rivals to meet again in Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers". eurohandball.com. 21 March 2024.
↑ "Draw procedure for Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers revealed". eurohandball.com. 11 March 2024.

External links

EHF website

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[table_hth_GBR0.10415840479739-3] 1 2 Cyprus 25–25 Great Britain

[Format-1] 1 2 3 "EHF EURO 2026 road begins with qualification phase 1 draw". eurohandball.com. 12 October 2022.

[2] "Cyprus wins right to host EHF EURO 2026 qualification tournament". eurohandball.com. 13 October 2022.

[Draw-4] 1 2 "Draw set for 2025 Men's World Championship qualification". eurohandball.com. 4 July 2023.

[5] "Men's World Championship Qualification draw sets up Baltic clash". eurohandball.com. 5 July 2023.

[6] "Bid brochure EHF EURO 2026 & 2028". eurohandball.com. 2020.

[Exec-7] 1 2 "Exec takes key decisions for national team competitions". eurohandball.com. 1 February 2024.

[8] "Familiar rivals to meet again in Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers". eurohandball.com. 21 March 2024.

[9] "Draw procedure for Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers revealed". eurohandball.com. 11 March 2024.

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2026 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

Contents

Format

Qualification Phase 1

Standings

Results

Promotion round

Participating teams

Seeding

Overview

Matches

Qualification Phase 2

Participating teams

Seeding

Groups

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Ranking of third-placed teams

EHF Euro Cup

Standings

Qualified teams

Related Research Articles

References

External links