2028 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

This article describes the qualification process for the 2028 European Men's Handball Championship and EHF Euro Cup. ^[1]

Format

Prior to the qualification, four teams were automatically qualified:

• Portugal, Spain and Switzerland as co-hosts;
• The best-placed team from the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship, other than the 2028 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.

• Qualification phase 1:
  • Four teams;
  • Round-robin tournament format;
  • The two top-ranked teams 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 2025 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 2026 European Championship, but did not qualify directly to the 2028 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.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Great Britain	3	2	1	0	92	67	+25	5	Promotion round
2	Cyprus	3	2	0	1	91	67	+24	4
3	Bulgaria (H)	3	1	1	1	78	62	+16	3
4	Malta	3	0	0	3	45	110	−65	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

Results

All times are local (UTC+2).

10 January 2025 15:00	Great Britain	37–14	Malta	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS)
	Pereira 6	(18–7)	three players 2
	3×	Report	1× 4×

10 January 2025 17:30	Cyprus	22–21	Bulgaria	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 600 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU)
	Karkalatos 6	(9–11)	three players 5
	1× 4×	Report	5×

---

11 January 2025 15:00	Cyprus	26–28	Great Britain	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 150 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU)
	Argyrou 6	(11–15)	Hirel 6
	2× 3×	Report	1× 4× 1×

11 January 2025 17:30	Bulgaria	30–13	Malta	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS)
	Yorgov 9	(13–5)	Harrison 4
	2×	Report

---

12 January 2025 13:00	Malta	18–43	Cyprus	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 200 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS)
	Harrison, Spiteri 4	(8–18)	Karkalatos 11
	5×	Report	3×

12 January 2025 15:30	Bulgaria	27–27	Great Britain	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU)
	Dimitrov 6	(11–13)	Pereira, Yonish 6
	1× 5×	Report	8×

Promotion round

Six teams participate in this round: the first and seconde of the Phase 1, the three of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship qualification and the best European team of the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship. It will be held between 6 and 12 January 2026. ^[2] The draw took place on 26 June 2025. ^{[3] [4]}

Participating teams

Qualification method	Team(s)
First and seconde of Qualification Phase 1	Great Britain   Cyprus
Three of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers	Turkey   Estonia   Latvia
Best European team at the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship	Bulgaria

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 24 June 2025. ^[3]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Latvia   Estonia   Turkey	Great Britain   Cyprus   Bulgaria

Overview

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bulgaria	–	Turkey	35–37	11 Jan
Cyprus	–	Estonia	27–31	11 Jan
Great Britain	–	Latvia	27–35	11 Jan

All times are (UTC+1).

Matches

7 January 2026 17:30	Bulgaria	35–37	Turkey	Arena Shumen, Shumen Attendance: 1,700 Referees: Manea, Iliescu (ROU)
	Vassilev 8	(14–16)	Yıldız 11
	1× 5×	Report	1× 6×

11 January 2026 14:00	Turkey	v	Bulgaria	Başpehlivan Recep Kara Sports Hall, Altınordu, Ordu Referees: Jović, Arnautović (BIH)
		Report

---

7 January 2026 19:00	Cyprus	27–31	Estonia	Eleftheria Indoor Hall, Nicosia Attendance: 310 Referees: Mandák, Rudinský (SVK)
	A. Charalambous 7	(12–16)	Rebane 9
	2× 4×	Report	1× 5×

11 January 2026 18:00	Estonia	v	Cyprus	Mesikäpa Hall, Põlva Referees: Novykov (UKR), Gatelis ( LTU)
		Report

---

7 January 2026 18:00	Great Britain	27–35	Latvia	David Ross Sports Village, Nottingham Attendance: 400 Referees: Thiyagarajah, Thiyagarajah (GER)
	Pereira 11	(15–18)	three players 7
	4×	Report	3×

11 January 2026 14:10	Latvia	v	Great Britain	Zemgales Olimpiskais centrs, Jelgava Referees: Cindrić, Gonzurek (CRO)
		Report

Qualification Phase 2

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. It will be played between November 2026 and May 2027.

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Date qualification was secured	Previous appearances in tournament
Portugal	Co-hosts	20 November 2021	8 ( 1994 , 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2020, 2022, 2024)
Spain			16 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 , 2020 , 2022, 2024)
Switzerland			5 (2002, 2004, 2006 , 2020, 2024)

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

References

1. "EHF EURO hosts for 2026 & 2028 confirmed". European Handball Federation. 20 November 2021. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
2. "Great Britain and Cyprus to EHF EURO 2028 Promotion Round". EHF. 13 January 2025.
3. "How to follow Men's EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers promotion round draw". EHF. 24 June 2025.
4. "Next step in Men's EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers set". EHF. 26 June 2025.

External links

• EHF website