The preliminary round of the 2026 IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship will conclude on Thursday in Granollers, with four sides – one in each group – taking the court for the first time.

Group A
10:00 CEST — Libya vs France
20:00 CEST — Spain vs France

Group B
12:00 CEST — USA vs Australia
18:00 CEST — Japan vs Australia

Group C
10:00 CEST — Brazil vs Indiia
20:00 CEST — Portugal vs India

Group D
12:00 CEST — Egypt vs Lithuania
18:00 CEST — Chile vs Lithuania

Two teams in each group – the top two sides in ths standings – will progress to the quarter-finals, and each group leader is halfway there, securing a win in the opening day of the competition.

The biggest battle looks to be the one in Group D, where reigning champions Egypt have no margin for error, after their first match against Chile, where they won the first set, only to concede the next two.

Lithuania are entering the fray and the bronze medallists at the previous European Wheelchair Handball Champions have two matches on the schedule, against Egypt and Chile.

The opener of the day will pit Lithuania and Egypt and the African side will need a better attacking performance, after converting only 13 of their 27 shots, meaning that their attacking efficiency has been lower than 50%.

Chile, on the other hand, have finished sixth in 2024 and fourth in 2022, which means they could well be on their way to the best performance in history at the IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship.

India, another side which has taken part in both previous editions and finished last, will take the court for the first time, but they will be underdogs against both Brazil and Portugal. The European side faces a must-win situation, after conceding a loss in straight sets against Brazil, where they were dominated.

Another debutant, Australia, will make history on Thursday, playing their maiden matches in the competition, against USA and Japan. With a completely changed squad, USA scored only five points in two sets against Japan, the lowest total of any team in the first day, and will have a mountain to climb, while the Asian side looks like a challenger for medals, being sharp and collected in their 2:0 win against the USA.

In Group A, hosts Spain avoided a Libya comeback in the first set and overcame a slow start in the second set against the Asian side, but have a tougher opponent in France in the last match of the day.

Libya will also play against France, the team which finished fourth two years ago, in the day’s opener, as the African side hopes to use their experience from the first day to gain more control and provide more balance to their squad.

The top two sides in each group progress to the quarter-finals.

If two or more teams finish the preliminary round with the same number of points, their ranking is first determined by the results of the matches between the teams concerned. The points gained in those matches are considered first, followed by set difference, goal difference and the greater number of goals scored.

If the teams remain tied after these head-to-head criteria have been applied, the ranking is then determined based on all matches played in the preliminary round. In this case, set difference, the greater number of sets won, goal points difference and the greater number of goal points scored are taken into account.