SUMMARY: Faroese triumph exception on day full of home team wins

• round 1 of the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers with six matches on Wednesday and six on Thursday
• Wednesday's results:
  - group 1 — Croatia vs Finland 25:17 / France vs Kosovo 43:12
  - group 3 — Slovenia vs Belgium 29:22
  - group 4 — Montenegro vs Portugal 29:22 / Iceland vs Faroe Islands 22:24
  - group 6 — Austria vs Israel 39:30
• find out where to watch the games: all matches streamed live on EHFTV but check the TV Guide for geo-restrictions
• the Women's EHF EURO Cup 2026 also started Wednesday:
  - group 1 — Norway vs Romania 29:27
  - group 2 — Denmark vs Czechia 41:25
• Eric Willemsen reporting on Wednesday; photos courtesy of the home teams

Wednesday 15 October

23:30

That brings our coverage of the opening day of round 1 in the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers to an end. Thursday's schedule opens with Serbia vs Lithuania at 18:00 CEST, so make sure to join the live blog again then.

For now, we leave you with the review of the EHF EURO Cup, while the review of the qualifiers will appear online at eurohandball.com soon, too.

Good night!

23:22

Apart from the qualifiers, the EHF EURO Cup also threw off with the first matches of their round 1. Defending EHF EURO champions Norway, who won this cup both previous times in 2022 and 2024, started with a narrow 29:27 win over Romania, while Denmark downed Czechia comfortably 41:25.

Before the Norway game, legendary goalkeeper Kristine Lunde received her EHF Excellence Awards 2025 trophy, handed over by Norwegian Handball Federation President, Randi Gustad. Congrats!

23:15

It looked like a night with only home-team wins... until the very last match. While all favourites in the first five qualifiers — Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Austria, and France — won by at least seven goals (or, like France, by 31 goals...), the surprise came at the very end, as Faroe Island, after squandering a lead several times during the match, ultimately came out on top in Iceland.

More excitement to come, as we are only halfway through round 1 of the qualifiers, as the remaining six matches take place on Thursday night.

16:47

Before Croatia and Finland get the qualifiers underway in less than 15 minutes from now, let's not forget that the already qualified teams play their own competition — the Women's EHF EURO Cup 2026, also starting today. We won't cover those matches extensively here on the live blog, but you can read about them in this round 1 preview.

All matches of both the EHF EURO Qualifiers and Cup can be watched live on EHFTV, though geo-restrictions might apply. Read all about it in this 'Where to watch' overview:

16:38

With eight teams already secured of their spot at the final tournament, the 24 teams in the qualifiers are going to battle it out for the remaining 16 places. Who will stamp their tickets after the six rounds of the qualifiers. And, who will then lift the trophy come December 2026?! 

16:30

The long road to Poland, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, and Türkiye starts in half an hour... in other words: Good afternoon and welcome to the live blog for the start of the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers!

Wednesday and Thursday see round 1 being played across Europe, as 24 teams hope to stamp their ticket to the final tournament in December 2026. The 12 matches are evenly divided between two days, so we throw off with six matches today. Get up-to-date with Wednesday's preview from EHF journalist Danijela Vekić.