While the final medals at the Men’s EHF Euro 2026 are still to be decided, many national teams have already turned their focus toward the next major event: the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship, which will be held in Germany in January 2027.
On Saturday in Herning, the draw for European qualification phase 3 was completed, setting up ten decisive play-off ties that will award Europe’s final ten spots at the World Championship.
How the qualification system works
The European qualification process began in October 2025 with phase 1, from which Kosovo, Latvia, and Türkiye advanced. Phase 2 will take place in March 2026 and features those three teams alongside 13 others: Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belgium, Finland, and Israel. These teams will compete in two-leg play-offs, with the winners moving on to phase 3.
Waiting for them in phase 3 are the teams that finished between seventh and 18th place at the Men’s EHF EURO 2026. These are France, Slovenia, Norway, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Netherlands, Austria, Czechia, and Italy.
Phase 3
The phase 3 draw produced the following match-ups, with some ties depending on the outcome of phase 2:
– winner Ukraine vs Slovakia vs North Macedonia
– winner Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Kosovo vs Faroe Islands
– Czechia vs France
– Switzerland vs Italy
– winner Finland vs Montenegro vs Slovenia
– winner Serbia vs Lithuania vs Hungary
– Spain vs winner Georgia vs Israel
– winner Greece vs Belgium vs Netherlands
– Norway vs Türkiye vs Romania
– Austria vs winner Poland vs Latvia
All ties will be played as two-leg play-offs on 13–14 and 16–17 May 2026. The aggregate winners will qualify directly for the 2027 Men’s World Championship.
Already qualified teams
Germany, as host nation, and Denmark, the reigning world champions, were automatically qualified before the EHF Euro 2026. Europe has 14 total places at the World Championship. Four of these were allocated based on the final standings at the Euro, and with Germany and Denmark reaching the semi-finals, the remaining semi-finalists and the teams contesting the 5th/6th place match – Croatia, Iceland, Portugal, and Sweden – also secured their tickets to the tournament.
Source: EHF