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.

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

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×	Report	1× 4×

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× 4×	Report	5×

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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× 3×	Report	1× 4× 1×

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×	Report

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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×	Report	3×

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× 5×	Report	8×

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.

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
Best European team at the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship

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.

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Date qualification was secured	Previous appearances in tournament
Portugal	Co-hosts	20 November 2021	8 (1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2020, 2022, 2024)
Spain			16 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024)
Switzerland			5 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2020, 2024)

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

External links

• EHF website