2027 World Men's Handball Championship – European qualification

The European qualification for the 2027 World Men's Handball Championship will be contested in two rounds between October 2025 and May 2026. ^[1] They join the two already qualified teams: Germany and Denmark.

Format

In the first round of qualification, six teams will be drawn in to knock-out ties. The winners advance to the qualification phase 2. ^[2]

Qualification phase 1

The draw took place on 26 June 2025. ^{[2] [3]} The winners of each tie advanced to phase 2.

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 24 June 2025. ^[2]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Turkey   Luxembourg   Kosovo	Latvia   Cyprus   Great Britain

Overview

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Latvia	62–53	Luxembourg	28–20	34–33
Cyprus	46–68	Turkey	27–33	19–35
Great Britain	56–67	Kosovo	26–32	30–35

Matches

1 November 2025 20:00	Latvia	28–20	Luxembourg	d'Coque, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Attendance: 773 Referees: Bozhinovski, Nachevski (MKD)
	J. Valkovskis 9	(13–9)	D. Etute 7
	1× 3×	Report	3×

2 November 2025 18:30	Luxembourg	33–34	Latvia	d'Coque, Luxembourg City Attendance: 813 Referees: Bozhinovski, Nachevski (MKD)
	S. Etute 11	(16–15)	Kušners 8
	1× 4×	Report	5×

Latvia won 62–53 on aggregate.

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29 October 2025 19:00	Cyprus	27–33	Turkey	Eleftheria Indoor Hall, Nicosia Attendance: 680 Referees: Horváth, Marton (HUN)
	Argyrou 9	(14–16)	Pehlivan 7
	1× 4×	Report	1× 6×

2 November 2025 14:00	Turkey	35–19	Cyprus	Ahmet Aytar Spor Salonu, Elazığ Attendance: 2,200 Referees: Sirbu, Serdiuc (MDA)
	Biçer 6	(22–10)	Paraskeva 4
	2×	Report	3×

Turkey won 68–46 on aggregate.

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29 October 2025 18:00	Great Britain	26–32	Kosovo	Derby Arena, Derby Attendance: 1,508 Referees: Čerņavskis, Bogdanovs (LAT)
	Pereira 5	(11–15)	Gegaj 9
	1× 3×	Report	1× 3×

2 November 2025 17:15	Kosovo	35–30	Great Britain	Palace of Youth and Sports, Pristina Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Leszczyński, Piechota (POL)
	Tahirukaj 7	(17–13)	Pereira 6
	4×	Report	3× 1×

Kosovo won 67–56 on aggregate.

Qualification phase 2

The three winners from phase 1 and 13 other countries will in March 2026 for qualification for phase 3. It is scheduled to take place in March 2026. ^[4] The draw took place on 6 November 2025. ^{[5] [6]} The winners of each tie advances to phase 3.

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 5 November 2025. ^[5]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Greece   Bosnia and Herzegovina Fourth place 2026 Euro Group A Fourth place 2026 Euro Group B Fourth place 2026 Euro Group C Fourth place 2026 Euro Group D Fourth place 2026 Euro Group E Fourth place 2026 Euro Group F	Slovakia   Lithuania   Belgium   Finland   Israel   Kosovo   Turkey   Latvia

Overview

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bosnia and Herzegovina	–	Kosovo	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Fourth place 2026 Euro Group C	–	Slovakia	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Fourth place 2026 Euro Group F	–	Latvia	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Greece	–	Belgium	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Fourth place 2026 Euro Group E	–	Israel	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Fourth place 2026 Euro Group A	–	Lithuania	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Turkey	–	Fourth place 2026 Euro Group B	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar
Finland	–	Fourth place 2026 Euro Group D	18–19 Mar	21–22 Mar

Qualification phase 3

Phase 3 will take place from 13 to 17 May 2026. ^[4] Eight winners from Phase 2 and the remaining 12 teams from the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship join.

Overview

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May
	–		13–14 May	16–17 May

References

1. "IHF Council awards events up to 2027". ihf.info. 28 February 2020.
2. "How to follow Men's EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers promotion round draw". eurohandball.com. 24 June 2025.
3. "Next step in Men's EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers set". EHF. 26 June 2025.
4. "Kosovo, Latvia and Türkiye keep World Championship dreams alive". EHF. 2 November 2025.
5. "16 teams await Men's World Championship Qualification Phase 2 draw". EHF. 5 November 2025.
6. "Qualification Phase 2 draw sets up path to Men's World Championship". EHF. 6 November 2025.