Eight nations join Men’s World Championship play-offs line-up

Qualification Europe Phase 3, generally known as the play-offs, will take place in mid-May, with the first leg scheduled for 13/14 May and the second leg set to be played on 16/17 May. The ties for the next phase of the competition are already known, following the draw organised during the Men's EHF EURO 2026 in January.

• Serbia finished the tie against Lithuania with the biggest aggregate win (+26), capitalising on their 42:25 victory in the first leg and celebrating with 33:24 in the second leg; the side will meet Hungary next on their hunt for a World Championship place
• building on their nine-goal advantage from the first leg, Poland continued their smooth sailing last weekend with a 33:25 victory over Latvia, and are now set to face Austria in the next phase
• three duels provided excitement until the very last minute, with Israel (+1), Türkiye (+1) and Slovakia (+2) taking aggregate wins with the slimmest of margins
• despite coming into the weekend game with a three-goal advantage and enjoying a one-goal lead at half-time, Israel struggled to keep their edge, and even recorded a 28:30 loss against Georgia
• star Georgian right back, Giorgi Tskhovrebadze, scored 20 times over the two legs, but missed the last shot on Saturday, as Israel took the overall victory (60:59) to secure progression to phase 3, where Spain await

• 19 goals by left back Ihor Turchenko over the two legs were not enough for Ukraine to advance to the play-offs, who, despite winning 32:31 on Sunday against Slovakia, were not able to overcome the three-goal deficit from the previous encounter; Slovakia are now set to clash with North Macedonia for a World Championship seat
• Türkiye produced the surprise of the weekend, mounting a thrilling comeback after the first-leg loss (32:37) and stunning their Romanian hosts with a 37:31 victory in the second leg; they are now getting ready to meet Norway next
• the 13-goal difference from the first leg was too big for Kosovo to overcome, and in spite of suffering a 29:33 loss in the return leg, Bosnia and Herzegovina ended the weekend celebrating, as they are looking forward to phase 3, where they will meet the Faroe Islands
• consistency was key for Greece, who won each of the two legs against Belgium with a three-goal difference (29:26 and 34:31, respectively), but the next round will bring bigger challenges for the side, who will have to face the Netherlands for a place at the final tournament
• Montenegro made their fans in Podgorica happy, starting the second leg with a four-goal advantage and managing to defend it by beating Finland 30:26, with Slovenia awaiting them in the play-offs

Türkiye celebrate comeback as Romania’s dreams crumble

After Romania’s 37:32 win in the first leg, Türkiye knew they had a difficult mission ahead. But heading to Buzau, Romania, for the second clash, Türkiye’s hopes were still high, having shown outstanding ambition by previously narrowing their deficit from nine goals to five. All they had to do was to stretch their comeback — and so they did.

With renewed energy, Türkiye revved up their engines both in attack and defence. Doruk Pehlivan and Eyüp Arda Yildiz posed great challenges for the Romanian defensive line, netting 10 times each in the reverse fixture. Between the posts, Can Adanir also contributed 11 saves, and despite rotating their bench — with 13 out of 14 field players on the scoresheet — Romania’s dreams were slowly crumbling.

Yildiz scored in minute 59 to bring the score to 36:31 for his side, and the hosts still had a chance to save the game. But a lost attack brought the ball back to Türkiye, as Koray Ayar became the hero of the evening by scoring in the last second, securing a ticket for phase 3.

2027 Men's World Championship European qualification phase 3:

• Slovakia vs North Macedonia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Faroe Islands
• Czechia vs France
• Switzerland vs Italy
• Montenegro vs Slovenia
• Serbia vs Hungary
• Spain vs Israel
• Greece vs Netherlands
• Norway vs Türkiye
• Austria vs Poland

Photos © Alain Decamps (main), Polish Handball Federation, Alain Decamps, Türkiye Hentbol Federasyonu (in-text)