# 2008 European Men's Handball Championship qualification

Qualification matches for the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship took place in 2007. According to the EHF rules host (Norway), and the top six nations from the 2006 European Championship (France, Croatia, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Russia) were automatically qualified. The other nine places will be determined in play-offs in June; nine teams are seeded after qualifying for the 2006 Championship, while their opponents qualified through the preliminary group stages.

## Summary

Below is a table containing all seven qualifying groups. Teams that have secured a place in the final tournament are highlighted in green. The order of teams is by play off position.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | Group 7 |
| Belarus Slovakia | Serbia Macedonia | Romania Latvia | Montenegro Netherlands | Switzerland Lithuania | Portugal | Sweden |
| Cyprus Moldova | Israel Luxembourg | Bulgaria Georgia | Austria Finland | Italy Turkey | Greece Estonia | Bosnia and Herzegovina Belgium |

### Group stage

Final standings (as of 30 January 2007)

#### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Belarus | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 74 | +26 | 6 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Slovakia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 100 | 74 | +26 | 4 | Playoffs |
| 3 | Cyprus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 71 | 86 | −15 | 2 | |
| 4 | Moldova | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 73 | 110 | −37 | 0 | |

#### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Serbia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 220 | 164 | +56 | 9 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Macedonia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 185 | 179 | +6 | 9 | Playoffs |
| 3 | Israel | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 172 | 174 | −2 | 6 | |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 149 | 209 | −60 | 0 | |

#### Group 3

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Romania | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 203 | 153 | +50 | 12 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Latvia | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 187 | 167 | +20 | 8 | Playoffs |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 140 | 171 | −31 | 2 | |
| 4 | Georgia | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 140 | 179 | −39 | 2 | |

#### Group 4

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Montenegro | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 200 | 171 | +29 | 11 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Netherlands | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 186 | 186 | 0 | 7 | Playoffs |
| 3 | Austria | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 183 | 178 | +5 | 6 | |
| 4 | Finland | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 165 | 199 | −34 | 0 | |

#### Group 5

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Switzerland | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 186 | 151 | +35 | 12 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Lithuania | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 186 | 188 | −2 | 6 | Playoffs |
| 3 | Italy | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 173 | 187 | −14 | 4 | |
| 4 | Turkey | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 167 | 186 | −19 | 2 | |

#### Group 6

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Portugal | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 115 | 94 | +21 | 6 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Greece | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 107 | 98 | +9 | 6 | |
| 3 | Estonia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 95 | 125 | −30 | 0 | |

#### Group 7

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sweden | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 139 | 106 | +33 | 8 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 143 | 121 | +22 | 4 | |
| 3 | Belgium | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 109 | 164 | −55 | 0 | |

### Play-off

The play-off draw was made in Vienna on 26 January 2007. The matches were two-legged affairs, and were played in the second and third weekends of June.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Poland | 72-47 | Netherlands | 31–20 | 41–27 |
| Lithuania | 53–59 | Hungary | 23–28 | 30–31 |
| Ukraine | 48–63 | Slovakia | 29–28 | 19–35 |
| Slovenia | 66–60 | Macedonia | 33–28 | 33–32 |
| Latvia | 56–64 | Czech Republic | 30–31 | 26–33 |
| Belarus | 61–54 | Switzerland | 33–24 | 28–30 |
| Sweden | 69–59 | Romania | 36–25 | 33–34 |
| Portugal | 55–63 | Montenegro | 28–30 | 27–33 |
| Serbia | 70–71 | Iceland | 30–29 | 40–42 |