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]

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.

Since only four teams participate in this round, no draw was needed.

All times are local (UTC+2).

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]

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

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.

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

• EHF website