The 2026 EHF European Women's Handball Championship, commonly referred to as the EHF EURO 2026, will be the 17th edition of the EHF

European Women's Handball Championship The European Women's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national handball teams of Europe, and takes place every two years. In addition to crowning the European champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifyin ...

. It will be held from 3 to 20 December 2026. The championship was originally scheduled to be held in Russia, but due to the invasion of Ukraine, they were stripped of the hosting rights. On 8 March 2024, the EHF announced

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

as co-hosts.

Bid process

First bidding process

Bids

On 11 May 2021 it was announced that the following nations sent in an official expression of interest: * * , & (withdrew) On 20 October the final bids were presented. The Scandinavian bid was withdrawn, leaving Russia unopposed. *

Host selection

As only the Russian bid remained it was unanimously selected at the 14th EHF Extraordinary Congress on 20 November 2021.

Second bidding process

On 4 July 2023, the EHF confirmed that Russia would not host the event due to the war in Ukraine, and thus reopened the bidding process. On 25 October, the EHF announced the official bids. * and * and * The hosts were originally going to be announced on 28 January 2024 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, but the EHF decided to delay the announcement to April while also inviting every bidding nation to a meeting in mid-February. During the meeting in mid-February, Romanian media reported that a possible five-country co-hosting plan was being negotiated by all five bidding countries and the EHF after it was reported that none of the three bids fulfilled all the requirements. On 8 March 2024, the EHF announced all five countries,

and

, as co-hosts. This marks the second time a sports tournament has been held in more than four countries, after

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

Venues

Qualification

Qualified teams

Notes

References

External links

Bid website
of the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

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