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:

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.
  • 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×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 1×Yellow card 4×number 2 in light blue rounded square
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×Yellow card 4×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report  5×number 2 in light blue rounded square
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×Yellow card 3×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 1×Yellow card 4×number 2 in light blue rounded square 1×Red card
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×number 2 in light blue rounded square 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×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report  3×number 2 in light blue rounded square
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×Yellow card 5×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report  8×number 2 in light blue rounded square

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  64–75  Turkey 35–37 29–38
Cyprus  –  Estonia 27–31 21 March
Great Britain  52–75  Latvia 27–35 25–40

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×Yellow card 5×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 1×Yellow card 6×number 2 in light blue rounded square
11 January 2026
14:00 		Turkey  38–29  Bulgaria Başpehlivan Recep Kara Sports Hall, Altınordu, Ordu
Attendance: 1,595
Referees: Jović, Arnautović (BIH)
Yıldız 8 (23–15) Sv. Dimitrov 8
 2×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report  3×number 2 in light blue rounded square
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×Yellow card 4×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 1×Yellow card 5×number 2 in light blue rounded square
21 March 2026[a]
15:00 		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×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report  3×number 2 in light blue rounded square
11 January 2026
14:10 		Latvia  40–25  Great Britain Zemgales Olimpiskais centrs, Jelgava
Attendance: 980
Referees: Cindrić, Gonzurek (CRO)
Kalniņš 10 (18–11) Pereira 8
1×Yellow card 7×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 1×Yellow card 5×number 2 in light blue rounded square

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.

Participating teams

Qualification method Team(s)
Participated in the 2026 European Championship

 Germany
 Croatia
 Iceland
 Sweden
 France
 Slovenia
 Norway
 Hungary
 Faroe Islands
 North Macedonia
 Netherlands
 Austria
 Czech Republic
 Italy
 Serbia
 Georgia
 Poland
 Romania
 Montenegro
 Ukraine

Eliminated in Qualification Phase 2 for the 2026 European Championship

 Greece
 Belgium
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Lithuania
 Slovakia
 Finland
 Israel
 Luxembourg
 Kosovo

Promotion round winners

 Turkey
 Latvia
 Estonia or  Cyprus

EHF Euro Cup

The EHF Euro Cup is scheduled to be contested by the 2028 co-hosts Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, plus the defending champions, Denmark.

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Denmark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2  Portugal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Spain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4   Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: unknown. 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.

Qualified teams

Team Qualification method Date of qualification Appearance(s) Previous best performance[b] Rank[6]
Total First Last Streak
 Portugal Host nation 20 November 2021 10th 1994 2026 5 Fifth place (2026) TBD
 Spain 18th 18 Champions (2018, 2020) TBD
  Switzerland 7th 2002 3 Twelfth place (2004) TBD
 Denmark Defending champions 1 February 2026 17th 1994 15 Champions (2008, 2012, 2026) TBD

Notes

  1. ^ The match, originally scheduled for 11 January 2026, was postponed after the Cypriot team was involed in a traffic accident and some delegation members received medical treatment.[5]
  2. ^ Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.

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. ^ a b "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.
  5. ^ "Three tickets to Men's EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers up for grabs". eurohandball.com. 11 January 2026. Retrieved 11 January 2026.
  6. ^ Rankings
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.