The 2028 European Men's Handball Championship qualification tournament is a Handball competition that was played from January 2025 to 9 May 2027 to determine the 20 EHF member men's national teams that will join the automatically qualified teams in the final tournament. Alongside the qualifiers, the EHF Euro Cup also takes place.
A total of 36 EHF member associations entered the qualifying process alongside the four teams in the EHF Euro Cup.
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
Results All times are local (UTC+2).
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. The draw took place on 26 June 2025.
Participating teams Qualification method Team(s) First and seconde of Qualification Phase 1 Best European team at the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship
Seeding The seeding was announced on 24 June 2025.
Pot 1 Pot 2
Overview
All times are (UTC+1).
Matches
Turkey won 75–64 on aggregate.
Estonia won 60–44 on aggregate.
Latvia won 75–52 on aggregate.
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 Eliminated in Qualification Phase 2 for the 2026 European Championship Promotion round winners
Draw The draw took place on 26 March 2026.
Seeding The seeding was announced on 23 March 2026.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
Groups Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Ranking of third-placed teams The results against the fourth-placed team are omitted.
EHF Euro Cup
The EHF Euro Cup will take place for the fifth time and is scheduled to be contested by the 2028 co-hosts Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, plus the defending champions, Denmark. Like every other edition, four teams will participate.
Composition of teams TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performance Co-hosts 20 November 20211stDebut 202020241 (2020) 1stDebut 2026 champions1 February 2026 202420263 (2024)
Standings
Qualified teams
TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performanceRankings Host nation 20 November 20211994 20265 (2026) TBD 18 (2018, 2020) TBD 2002 3 (2004) TBD Defending champions1 February 20261994 15 (2008, 2012, 2026) TBD
Notes
References
External links EHF website