The Romanian men’s handball team on Thursday found out their opponents in the qualifying matches for the 2026 European Championship. The draw was held in Copenhagen.

Romania, men’s national handball teamPhoto: Marco Wolf / imago sportfotodienst / Profimedia

Romania is in a group with Portugal, Poland and Israel

At a ceremony held in Copenhagen, Romania found out after the draw who is the opponent in the qualifying matches for the 2026 European Championship.

The tricolors were placed in the eighth group along with Portugal, Poland and Israel.

Composition of groups in previous matches of EURO-2026

Group 1: Slovenia, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Estonia;

Group 2: Hungary, Montenegro, Slovakia, Finland;

Group 3: Iceland, Greece Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia;

Group 4: Spain, Serbia, Italy, Latvia;

Group 5: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg;

Group 6: Netherlands, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, Kosovo;

Group 7: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey;

Group 8: Portugal, Poland, Romania, Israel.

Know:

  • Of the 32 teams divided into 8 groups, 20 teams will qualify, including the top two teams in each group and the four best-ranked teams, starting with third place in each group. For the third place, only the games with the teams that took the first and second places in the respective groups will be taken into account when drawing up the qualification hierarchy.
  • The games will take place from November 2024 to May 2025, with the first round on 6/7 November 2024, the second round on 9/10 November, the third round on 12/13 March, the fourth round on 15/16 March, and the fifth round on 7/8 May and the last one on May 11, 2025.
  • The final tournament will be hosted by Denmark, Sweden and Norway, whose teams qualify directly along with title holders France.