The European Handball Federation has announced that several member federations, including Romania, have submitted their bids to host the European Women’s Handball Championship in 2026.

National women’s handball team of RomaniaPhoto: Petr Stoyanovsky / Panorama / Panorama / Profimedia

Turkey, Czech Republic/Poland and Romania/Slovakia want to host 2026 European Women’s Handball Championship

The European Handball Federation received the candidacy of Turkey, as well as the joint candidacies of the Czech Republic/Poland and Romania/Slovakia. The deadline for submitting applications is October 25.

Romania hosted the women’s European Championship-2000, Poland hosted the men’s EURO-2016, and Slovakia together with Hungary hosted the men’s European Championship-2022.

The European Handball Federation will assess the applications and on-site inspections will take place in November and December 2023.

The EHF Executive Committee will award the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 at its meeting on 27 January 2024 in Cologne.

The EURO 2026 women’s championship is scheduled for December 3-20, and 24 teams will take part in it.

In the case of Turkey, the tournament will be held in Ankara, Antalya and Istanbul, each of these cities will host two groups, and the final will be played at the 16,500-capacity Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.

The Czech Republic and Poland also offer three host cities: Brno in the Czech Republic, as well as Lubin and Katowice in Poland. The final weekend will host the 11,016-seat Spodek Arena in Katowice.

Romania and Slovakia offer a tour with seven host cities: Cluj-Napoca, Pitesti, Craiova, Bistrica and Bucharest in Romania, as well as Bratislava and Kosice in Slovakia. The 10,000-capacity BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca has been named as the venue for the final weekend, according to News.ro.