# 2028 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

This article describes the qualification process for the 2028 European Men's Handball Championship and EHF Euro Cup.

## Format

Prior to the qualification, four teams were automatically qualified:
* Portugal, Spain and Switzerland as co-hosts;
* The best-placed team from the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship, other than the 2028 tournament co-hosts.
The remaining eligible teams contest a qualification tournament to determine the teams securing the remaining 20 places in the final tournament. The qualification tournament consists of three rounds: qualification phase 1, promotion round, and qualification phase 2.
* Qualification phase 1:
** Four teams;
** Round-robin tournament format;
** The two top-ranked teams after all matches played advances to the promotion round.
* Promotion round:
** Six teams:
*** Qualification phase 1 winner,
*** Four of the lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams of the previous cycle qualifiers round,
*** Best European team at the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship;
** Two-legged tie format;
** Three aggregate winners advance to the qualification phase 2.
* Qualification phase 2:
** Thirty-two teams:
*** Three promotion round winners
*** Remaining eight teams eliminated in the previous cycle qualifiers round
*** Twenty teams that participated in the 2026 European Championship, but did not qualify directly to the 2028 final tournament
** Round-robin tournament format: eight groups of four teams;
** Group winners, group runners-up, and the four best third-placed teams qualify for the final tournament.

## Qualification Phase 1

Since only four teams participate in this round, no draw was needed.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Great Britain | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 92 | 67 | +25 | 5 | Promotion round |
| 2 | Cyprus | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 91 | 67 | +24 | 4 | Promotion round |
| 3 | Bulgaria (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 78 | 62 | +16 | 3 | |
| 4 | Malta | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 45 | 110 | −65 | 0 | |

### Results

All times are local (UTC+2).
| 10 January 2025 15:00 | Great Britain | 37–14 | Malta | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 10 January 2025 15:00 | Pereira 6 | (18–7) | three players 2 | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 10 January 2025 15:00 | 3× | Report | 1× 4× | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 10 January 2025 17:30 | Cyprus | 22–21 | Bulgaria | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 600 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 10 January 2025 17:30 | Karkalatos 6 | (9–11) | three players 5 | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 600 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 10 January 2025 17:30 | 1× 4× | Report | 5× | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 600 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 11 January 2025 15:00 | Cyprus | 26–28 | Great Britain | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 150 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 11 January 2025 15:00 | Argyrou 6 | (11–15) | Hirel 6 | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 150 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 11 January 2025 15:00 | 2× 3× | Report | 1× 4× 1× | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 150 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 11 January 2025 17:30 | Bulgaria | 30–13 | Malta | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 11 January 2025 17:30 | Yorgov 9 | (13–5) | Harrison 4 | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 11 January 2025 17:30 | 2× | Report | | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 12 January 2025 13:00 | Malta | 18–43 | Cyprus | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 200 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 12 January 2025 13:00 | Harrison, Spiteri 4 | (8–18) | Karkalatos 11 | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 200 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 12 January 2025 13:00 | 5× | Report | 3× | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 200 Referees: Bujupi, Bujupi (KOS) |
| 12 January 2025 15:30 | Bulgaria | 27–27 | Great Britain | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 12 January 2025 15:30 | Dimitrov 6 | (11–13) | Pereira, Yonish 6 | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |
| 12 January 2025 15:30 | 1× 5× | Report | 8× | Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Pirvu, Potirniche (ROU) |

## Promotion round

Six teams participate in this round: the first and seconde of the Phase 1, the three of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship qualification and the best European team of the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship. It will be held between 6 and 12 January 2026.

### Participating teams

| Qualification method | Team(s) |
| First and seconde of Qualification Phase 1 | Great Britain Cyprus |
| Three of the lowest-ranked fourth-ranked teams in the Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers | |
| Best European team at the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship | Bulgaria |

## Qualification Phase 2

Like in previous cycles, 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four, to be played as round-robin tournaments. The eight group winners and runners-up qualify for the final tournament, together with the four best third-placed teams, which will be determined taking into account only results against top two teams in each group.

## Qualified teams

| Country | Qualified as | Date qualification was secured | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Portugal | Co-hosts | 20 November 2021 | 8 (1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2020, 2022, 2024) |
| Spain | Co-hosts | 20 November 2021 | 16 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024) |
| Switzerland | Co-hosts | 20 November 2021 | 5 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2020, 2024) |
Note: Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.