2026 IHF Women's U18 Handball World Championship
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The 2026 IHF Women's U18 Handball World Championship will be the 11th edition of the IHF Women's U18 Handball World Championship, the biennial international handball championship organised under the aegis of IHF for the women's U18 national teams across the world. It will be held in Romania for the first time from 29 July to 9 August 2026.[1][2] The final will be in Pitești.
Host country
Romania
RomaniaVenues4 (in 4 host cities)
Dates29 July – 9 August
Teams32 (from 6 confederations)
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Romania |
| Venues | 4 (in 4 host cities) |
| Dates | 29 July – 9 August |
| Teams | 32 (from 6 confederations) |
For the third time, 32 teams took part, following the expansion in 2022. Continental championships acted as qualification. Qualifiers took place between July 2025 and April 2026. The hosts Romania automatically qualified despite not originally making it. Fiji and Mexico will make their debut, with the former becoming the first Pacific island nation to take part.[3]
Spain are the defending champions, having beaten Denmark 23–22 at the 2024 final in Chuzhou.
Qualification
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 9 January 2026 | – | 1 | Romania |
| 2025 Asian Youth Championship | 18–26 July 2025 |  Jinggangshan | 4 | China Japan Kazakhstan South Korea |
| 2025 European Championship | 30 July – 10 August 2025 |  Podgorica | 14 |  Croatia Czechia Denmark France Germany Hungary Montenegro Netherlands Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland |
| 2025 African Youth Championship | 14–21 September 2025 |  Oran | 4+1 |  Angola Egypt Guinea Nigeria Tunisia |
| 2025 IHF Trophy U17 – Oceania | 13–17 October 2025 |  Avarua | 1 |  Fiji |
| 2025 IHF Trophy U17 – North America and the Caribbean | 12–16 November 2025 |  Mexico City | 2 |  Canada Mexico |
| [[2025 South and Central American Women's Youth Handball Championship|2025 South and Central American Youth Championship]] | 17–21 November 2025 |  Asunción | 4 |  Argentina Brazil Paraguay Uruguay |
| 2025 IHF Trophy U17 – Asia | 18–22 November 2025 |  Suphan Buri | 1 |  Uzbekistan |
| 2026 IHF Inter-Continental Trophy | 7–11 April 2026 |  Veliko Tarnovo | None |
Summary of qualified teams
| Team | Qualification method | Date of qualification | Appearance(s) | Previous best performance[A] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Last | Streak | ||||
| Japan |
2025 Asian Youth Championship | 19 July 2025 | 9th | 2006 | 2024 | 2 | Seventh place (2006) |
| South Korea |
10th | 2006 | 10 | Champions (2022) | |||
| China |
21 July 2025 | 5th | 2014 | 2 | Fiftheenth place (2024) | ||
| Kazakhstan |
8th | 2010 | 8 | Sixteenth place (2010, 2012) | |||
| Croatia |
2025 European U-17 Championship | 4 August 2025 | 7th | 2012 | 2024 | 7 | Seventh place (2024) |
| Switzerland |
3rd | 2022 | 3 | Fourteenth place (2024) | |||
| Montenegro |
5 August 2025 | 6th | 2012 | 4 | Fourth place (2014) | ||
| Denmark |
10th | 2006 | 10 | Champions (2006, 2012) | |||
| France |
10th | 2006 | 10 | Fourth place (2006, 2008, 2010, 2024) | |||
| Hungary |
8th | 2010 | 8 | Runners-up (2018) | |||
| Slovakia |
5th | 2008 | 2022 | 1 | Third place (2010) | ||
| Spain |
7th | 2008 | 2024 | 5 | Champions (2024) | ||
| Sweden |
7 August 2025 | 8th | 2010 | 8 | Champions (2010) | ||
| Serbia |
3rd | 2008 | 2 | Runners-up (2008) | |||
| Germany |
7th | 2010 | 6 | Runners-up (2014) | |||
| Czech Republic |
4th | 2012 | 3 | Ninth place (2024) | |||
| Netherlands |
8 August 2025 | 8th | 2008 | 4 | Third place (2010) | ||
| Slovenia |
4th | 2006 | 2022 | 1 | Fifth place (2006) | ||
| Egypt |
[[2025 African Women's Youth Handball Championship|2025 African Youth Championship]] | 18 September 2025 | 5th | 2016 | 2024 | 5 | Seventh place (2022) |
| Tunisia |
5th | 2006 | 2018 | 1 | Eleventh place (2006) | ||
| Angola |
8th | 2008 | 2024 | 2 | Eighth place (2008) | ||
| Guinea |
19 September 2025 | 3rd | 2022 | 3 | 29th place (2022) | ||
| Fiji |
2025 IHF Trophy U17 – Oceania | 16 October 2025 | 1st | Debut | |||
| Canada |
2025 IHF Trophy U17 – North America and the Caribbean | 15 November 2025 | 3rd | 2006 | 2024 | 2 | Tenth place (2006) |
| Mexico |
1st | Debut | |||||
| Argentina |
2025 South and Central American Youth Championship | 19 November 2025 | 9th | 2006 | 2024 | 6 | Sixth place (2006) |
| Brazil |
9th | 2006 | 3 | Seventh place (2014) | |||
| Uruguay |
4th | 2010 | 2022 | 1 | Twelfth place (2010) | ||
| Paraguay |
4th | 2012 | 2016 | 1 | Ninteenth place (2014) | ||
| Uzbekistan |
2025 IHF Trophy U17 – Asia | 22 November 2025 | 4th | 2014 | 2022 | 1 | 24th place (2014, 2016, 2022) |
| Romania |
Host nation | 9 January 2026 | 8th | 2006 | 2024 | 7 | Champions (2024) |
| Nigeria[B] |
[[2025 African Women's Youth Handball Championship|2025 African Youth Championship]] | 11 April 2026 | 2nd | 2024 | 2 | 24th place (2024) | |
Draw
Referees
The referees were announced on 20 April 2026.[6]
| Referees | |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Santiago Correa Agustín Converse |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Vesna Balvan Tatjana Praštalo |
| Brazil | Henrique Godoy Daniel Magalhães |
| Croatia | Matija Hodžić Matija Brodić |
 Cuba | Raymel Reyes Alexis Zuñiga |
| Denmark | Jacob Pagh Karl Thygesen |
| Egypt | Mohamed Esmail Mohamed Saleh |
| France | Titouan Picard Pierre Vauchez |
| Referees | |
|---|---|
| Germany | Lucas Hellbusch Darnel Jansen |
 Greece | Ioannis Fotakidis Charalampos Kinatzidis |
| Hungary | Rita Dáné Zsófia Marton |
| Japan | Hideki Furukawa Tetsuro Murata |
 North Macedonia | Danielo Bozhinovski Viktor Nachevski |
| Netherlands | William Weijmans Rick Wolbertus |
 Norway | Andreas Borge Magnus Nygren |
Notes
- Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.
- Since the 2026 IHF Inter-Continental Trophy winners, Guinea, had already qualified via the African Championship, the spot was given to the next best team in the African Championship, being fifth place Nigeria.[4]