2026 European Men's Handball Championship


The 2026 EHF European Men's Handball Championship, commonly referred to as the EHF Euro 2026, was the 17th edition of the EHF European Men's Handball Championship, the biennial international men's handball championship of Europe organized by EHF. It was co-hosted by Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 15 January to 1 February 2026, marking the second time the event was held in three countries, after 2020. The final was held in Herning, Denmark.
24 teams participated for the fourth time. Qualification took place in January 2023 to May 2025 to decide the final 12 spots. The three co-hosts qualified automatically, alongside the defending champions, France. Italy returns after a 28 year absence.
Co-host Denmark won their first title in over a decade after defeating Germany in the final. Croatia captured the bronze medal after defeating Iceland who appeared in the medal race after 16 years. Defending Champions France finished 7th while co-hosts Norway and Sweden finished 9th and 6th.
WWW ehfeuro.eurohandball.com/...

Bid process

Bids

On 11 May 2021 it was announced that the following nations sent in an official expression of interest:

Host selection

As only the Scandinavian bid remained it was unanimously selected at the 14th EHF Extraordinary Congress on 20 November 2021. This marks the second time the event is held in three countries, after 2020. This is Denmark's second, Norway's third and Sweden's third time hosting.

Preparations

  • Site visits in Denmark and Sweden took place in September 2024.
  • As of April 2025, the EHF stated that preparations were going smoothly.
  • On 18 September 2025, the three co-hosts were joining forces on common sustainability concept called Pure Promise.
  • On 13 November 2025, Swedish hotel company, Scandic, was announced as a national supplier for Norway.
  • On 21 November 2025, it was announced that Harald V will watch Norway's opening game against Ukraine.
  • On 19 December 2025, Gumpen Gruppen became a car supplier for the championship in Norway.
  • Herning would offer free transport to and from the Jyske Bank Boxen for the tournament.

Tickets

  • On 5 November 2024, tickets in Sweden were released.
  • Denmark and Norway's were put on sale on 14 February 2025.
  • More tickets were released on 29 October 2025.
  • More tickets in Denmark were available for purchase.
  • On 17 November 2025, the Swedish Handball Federation stated that tickets were selling fast.

Sponsors

Official partners

Venues

[|A] first draft of the venues was proposed in August 2023. The tournament will be played across four venues in four cities: one in Denmark, one in Norway, and two in Sweden. The main round will take place in Herning and Malmö, with the former organising the final weekend. The following proposed cities in the bid didn't make the final cut: Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark, and Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim in Norway. In regards to Norway, Oslo was chosen over Trondheim, after negotiations with Trondheim fell through due to financial reasons.
In September 2024, one team per venue was selected. Denmark will play in Herning, Norway in Bærum and Sweden in Malmö. If they qualify, Germany will play in Herning, the Faroe Islands in Bærum and Iceland in Kristianstad. The arena in Kristianstad is renovated with new seats being put in by June 2025.

Overview of venues

Herning will host preliminary, main and knockout round games.
Malmö will host preliminary and main round games.
Bærum and Kristianstad will host preliminary round games.

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Draw

The draw took place in on 15 May 2025 at 18:00 CEST at the Teatersaalen in Herning, Denmark. The draw was hosted by Danish journalist,. Danish international, Simon Pytlick, French national team player, Hugo Descat, Swedish player Andreas Nilsson and former Norwegian left back Kristian Kjelling were the guests and assisted with the draw. The draw started with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically.

Chosen teams

On 2 September 2024, the three co-hosts were allowed to choose a nation to be drawn in their country if they qualified. Denmark chose Germany, Norway picked Faroe Islands while Sweden selected Iceland.
TeamGroup
A
[|B]
[|C]
[|D]
[|E]
[|F]

Seeding

The seedings were announced on 12 May 2025.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

Draw results

Team
B1
B2
B3
B4

Team
D1
D2
D3
D4

Team
F1
F2
F3
F4

Referees

The 18 referee pairs were selected on 8 October 2025. However, on 22 December 2025, the Czech referee pair Václav Horáček and Jiří Novotný withdrew their nomination due to recent injury, getting replaced by the Serbian pair Marko Boričić and Dejan Marković. On 10 January 2026, the EHF withdrew the nomination of the pair from North Macedonia Slave Nikolov and Gjorgji Načevski, due to suspected manipulation of a video recording of their Multistage Fitness Test, no other pair was nominated instead, leaving the tournament with only 17 pairs.

Squads

Each team consists of up to 20 players, of whom 16 may be fielded for each match.

Tiebreakers

In the group stages, teams are ranked according to points. If two or more teams have the same number of points, the ranking will be determined as follows:
;During the round matches:
  1. Superior goal difference from all group matches;
  2. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  3. Alphabetical order.
;After completion of the round matches:
  1. Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved;
  3. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved;
  4. Superior goal difference in all matches of the group;
  5. Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group;
If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots.

Preliminary round

The schedule was released on 10 November 2024.
''All times are local.''

Group A


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[|Group B]


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Group C


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[|Group D]


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Group E


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[|Group F]


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Main round

Points and goals gained in the preliminary group against teams that advance were transferred to the main round.

[|Group I]


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[|Group II]


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Knockout stage

Semifinals

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Rankings

Final ranking

The teams ranked fourth in each group after the completion of the preliminary round matches will be ranked 19 to 24, while teams ranked third in each group after the completion of the preliminary round matches will be ranked 13 to 18 according to the number of points won in the preliminary round. Places seven and eight will be attributed to the two teams ranked fourth in the main round groups, places nine and ten to the two teams ranked fifth in the main round groups, places eleven and twelve to the two teams ranked sixth in the main round groups according to the number of points won by the respective teams after completion of the main round matches. Places one to six will be decided by play–off or knock–out.

Qualification table

QQualified directly to the final tournament
q2Qualification phase 2
q3Qualification phase 3

Method of qualification
Qualified for the phase indicated based on this tournament
Qualified for the final tournament as host
Qualified for the final tournament as defending champion

All Star Team

The all-star team was announced on 1 February 2026.
PositionPlayer
Most valuable player Mathias Gidsel
Best defender Salvador Salvador
Best young player Francisco Costa
Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff
Right wing Mario Šoštarić
Right back Francisco Costa
Centre back Gísli Þorgeir Kristjánsson
Left back Simon Pytlick
Left wing August Pedersen
Pivot Johannes Golla

Statistics

Discipline

The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
PlayerOffenceSuspension
Wiktor Jankowski in Group F vs Hungary Group F vs Iceland, Group F vs Italy
Risto Vujačić in Group D vs Faroe Islands Group D vs Switzerland
Victor Iturriza in Group B vs Denmark Group I vs Germany
Matic Suholežnik in Group D vs Faroe Islands Group II vs Sweden, Group II vs Hungary

Player of the match

A player of the match award will be given to the player deemed as playing the best in each match.
RoundTeamMatchTeamPlayer
Group A29–27 Ian Tarrafeta
Group A30–27 Johannes Golla
Group A25–30 Sergey Hernández
Group A30–27 Stefan Dodić
Group A26–25 Constantin Möstl
Group A29–25 Renārs Uščins
Group B40–34 Francisco Costa
Group B36–24 Simon Pytlick
Group B29–29 Filip Kuzmanovski
Group B24–39 Kevin Møller
Group B24–23 Mihai Popescu
Group B29–31 Simon Pytlick
Group C42–28 Elohim Prandi
Group C39–22 Patrick Helland Anderson
Group C26–46 Melvyn Richardson
Group C25–29 Tomáš Mrkva
Group C38–29 Jonáš Josef
Group C38–34 Sander Sagosen
Group D41–40 Branko Vujović
Group D28–28 Elias á Skipagøtu
Group D24–37 Pauli Jacobsen
Group D35–38 Nikola Portner
Group D26–43 Lenny Rubin
Group D30–27 Domen Makuc
Group E32–29 Mario Šoštarić
Group E36–31 Felix Claar
Group E29–35 Ivan Martinović
Group E29–38 Giorgi Tskhovrebadze
Group E31–26 Reinier Taboada
Group E33–25 Andreas Palicka
Group F39–26 Janus Daði Smárason
Group F29–21 Kristóf Palasics
Group F23–31 Ómar Ingi Magnússon
Group F26–32 Domenico Ebner
Group F28–29 Simone Mengon
Group F23–24 Viktor Hallgrímsson
Group I32–30 Andreas Wolff
Group I34–35 August Pedersen
Group I29–32 Emil Nielsen
Group I46–38 Dika Mem
Group I31–36 Emil Nielsen
Group I30–28 Andreas Wolff
Group I35–35 Luís Frade
Group I36–32 Ian Barrufet
Group I31–26 Emil Nielsen
Group I27–35 Martim Costa
Group I38–34 Juri Knorr
Group I38–24 Mathias Gidsel
Group II29–30 Zvonimir Srna
Group II29–29 Kristóf Palasics
Group II31–35 Lukas Sandell
Group II35–32 Blaž Janc
Group II35–27 Viggó Kristjánsson
Group II24–28 Dominik Kuzmanović
Group II38–38 Noam Leopold
Group II25–29 Matej Mandić
Group II32–32 Felix Claar
Group II31–39 Elliði Viðarssonn
Group II27–25 Dominik Kuzmanović
Group II21–34 Andreas Palicka
Semifinals31–28
Semifinals28–31
Fifth place game36–35
Third place game33–34
Final34–27

Notable statistics

  • Highest attended game:
  • Lowest attended game: 2,026
  • Most goals in a game:
  • Least goals in a game:
  • Most goals by a team in a game:
  • Least goals by a team in a game:
  • Biggest goal difference in a game:
  • Biggest half time deficit in a game:
  • Most goals scored by a player in a game:

Notable occurrences

  • On 16 January, Slovenia and Montenegro broke the record for most goals in a Euro game. Slovenia won 41–40, bringing the total to 81 goals. Consequently, the highest number of goals ever scored by the losing team in a match is 40.
  • On 17 January, France's 46–26 win over Ukraine broke the record for the biggest win at the tournament's history and most goals ever scored by a team in one game.
  • On 17 January, the 9,130 spectators for Serbia vs Germany broke the record for most fans at a match with Denmark not involved on the day. The record was later broken again with 9,526 spectators for Germany vs Spain.
  • On 18 January, Faroe Islands secured their first ever win at Euro tournaments by beating Montenegro 37–24.
  • On 18 January, Iceland won their fourth consecutive game at Euro tournaments for the first time.
  • On 20 January, Switzerland reached the main round for the first time since 2004.
  • On 20 January, Italy won their first game in 28 years after beating Poland 29–28.
  • On 24 January, France and Portugal broke the record of most goals in a game at a Euro, with a 46–38 win for the French equating to 84 goals. This result beats the record that Slovenia's 41–40 win over Montenegro held for eight days.
  • Italy, Montenegro, Romania and Ukraine suffered their worst losses at Euro tournaments.
  • France, Iceland and Switzerland secured their biggest victories at Euro tournaments.

Broadcasting rights

The television channels broadcasting the event is as follows:
TerritoryRights holder
Rest of Europe