2026 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

Prior to the qualification, four teams were automatically qualified:

• Denmark, Norway and Sweden as co-hosts;
• The best-placed team from the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship, other than the 2026 tournament co-hosts.

The remaining eligible teams contested a qualification tournament to determine the teams securing the remaining 20 places in the final tournament. The qualification tournament consisted of three rounds: qualification phase 1, promotion round, and qualification phase 2.^[1]

• Qualification phase 1:
  • Four teams;
  • Round-robin tournament format;
  • Top-ranked team after all matches played advanced 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 2023 IHF Emerging Nations Championship;
  • Two-legged tie format;
  • Three aggregate winners advanced 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 2024 European Championship, but did not qualify directly to the 2026 final tournament
  • Round-robin tournament format: eight groups of four teams;
  • Group winners, group runners-up, and the four best third-placed teams qualified for the final tournament.

Six teams participated in this round: the winner of the Phase 1, the four of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship qualification and the best European team of the 2023 IHF Emerging Nations Championship.^[1] The draw took place on 5 July 2023, in Vienna, Austria.^[3][4]

Qualification method	Team(s)
Winner of Qualification Phase 1	Great Britain
Four of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the Men's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers	Belgium  Kosovo  Luxembourg  Latvia
Best European team at the 2023 IHF Emerging Nations Championship	Cyprus

The seeding was announced on 4 July 2023.^[3]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Belgium  Kosovo  Luxembourg	Latvia  Great Britain  Cyprus

Times from November to March are UTC+1, Times in May are UTC+2.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Latvia	60–61	Luxembourg	32–25	28–36
Kosovo	59–45	Great Britain	30–22	29–23
Belgium	66–40	Cyprus	30–18	36–22

11 January 2024 18:40	Latvia	32–25	Luxembourg	Valmiera Olympic Center, Valmiera Attendance: 480 Referees: Leszczyński, Piechota (POL)
	Juzups 8	(13–13)	three players 5
	1× 4× 1×	Report	8× 1×

14 January 2024 16:00	Luxembourg	36–28	Latvia	d'Coque, Luxembourg City Attendance: 1,172 Referees: Caçador, Nicolau (POR)
	Hoffmann 9	(21–13)	Geislers 9
	4×	Report	1× 2×

Luxembourg won 61–60 on aggregate.

10 January 2024 20:30	Kosovo	30–22	Great Britain	Palace of Youth and Sports, Pristina Attendance: 1,150 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	Dedaj 11	(13–11)	Edgar 6
	5×	Report	5×

13 January 2024 14:15	Great Britain	23–29	Kosovo	Derby Arena, Derby Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Horváth, Marton (HUN)
	Plumridge, Wardle 4	(11–13)	Dedaj 8
	1× 4×	Report	1× 6× 1×

Kosovo won 59–45 on aggregate.

10 January 2024 18:00	Belgium	30–18	Cyprus	Sporthal Alverberg, Hasselt Attendance: 1,970 Referees: Madsen, Mortensen (DEN)
	Glorieux 7	(12–10)	three players 4
	1× 2×	Report	2×

13 January 2024 16:00	Cyprus	22–36	Belgium	Eleftheria Indoor Hall, Nicosia Attendance: 200 Referees: Boričić, Marković (SRB)
	Argyrou 7	(8–15)	Cadel 6
	1× 4×	Report	1× 5×

Belgium won 66–40 on aggregate.