All you need to know about the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 draw on 16 April
Following the end of the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers on Sunday, the European Handball Federation has released the procedure for the final tournament draw which is set to take place on 16 April at 18:00 CEST in Katowice, Poland.
The draw will be streamed live on EHFTV and the EHF’s Home of Handball YouTube channel (geo-blocking may apply).
24 teams have qualified for the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 (3-20 December), and they will be drawn to six groups of four for the championship’s preliminary round.
The three medallists of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 — Norway, Denmark and Hungary — are all seeded in pot 1. The five hosts of the tournament — Poland, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, Türkiye — find themselves in either pot 2 or pot 3.
For Greece, in pot 4, it is the first time ever they qualified for a Women’s EHF EURO.
The teams have been seeded based on the results of the 2026 Qualifiers and the final ranking of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024.
Pot 1: Norway, Denmark, Hungary, France, Sweden, Netherlands
Pot 2: Germany, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Spain, Czechia
Pot 3: Türkiye, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria, Faroe Islands
Pot 4: Croatia, Serbia, Iceland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Greece
Four players have been selected to assist in the draw: Katarzyna Cygan (POL), Silvie Polaskova (CZE), Barbora Lancz (SVK) and Elif Sila Aydin (TUR).
The preliminary round will take place in six different venues and the following teams have already been assigned to a group according to the regulations.
- Hungary to group A in Oradea (ROU)
- Romania to group B in Cluj-Napoca (ROU)
- Türkiye to group C in Antalya (TUR)
- Czechia to group D in Brno (CZE)
- Poland to group E in Katowice (POL)
- Slovakia to group F in Bratislava (SVK)
The top two teams in each preliminary round group qualify for the main round which will be played in Cluj-Napoca (teams from groups A, B and C) and in Katowice (teams from groups D, E and F).
The final weekend will be played at the Spodek Arena in Katowice on 18 (semi-finals) and 20 December 2026.
Tickets for all stages of the tournament have already gone on sale. More info at tickets.eurohandball.com.
