Seven men’s and eight women’s teams have confirmed their places at the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2027 following the completion of the EHF Beach Handball Championship 2026 on Sunday (12 July) in Zagreb.

Lake Jarun hosted the event – the same venue which held the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships last month – which saw 24 teams compete across four days (9 to 12 July) in the Croatian capital, all with the hope of snapping up the final qualification places for the full continental championships which will be held next year in Druskininkai, Lithuania.

Thrice is nice for Hungarian women

With eight continental qualification spots available in the women’s competition, teams knew that a spot in the quarter-final would be enough to book their place through to Lithuania 2027.

In total, 13 teams competed in Zagreb including title-holders and 2014 world championship silver medallists Hungary, alongside France, Cyprus, Czechia, Serbia, Ukraine, Portugal, Türkiye, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Italy and Slovakia. Both Hungary and France made the quarter-finals of the EHF EURO 2025 last year.

Teams were initially split into three preliminary groups with the top two in each and two best third-ranked sides qualifying through to the last eight.

Previous IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship silver medallists Hungary (2014) experienced déjà vu, defeating France in the gold medal match (2-0, 17:12, 18:24, SO 7:2) – a repeat of the final from 2024. Hungary goalkeeper – and All-star Team member – Dalma Matefi was the difference, saving two French attempts in the shoot-out to help her side to the top of the podium once again. It was their third in a row, a sequence which started with a 2022 victory against Poland.

Ukraine also repeated their 2024 result, but not one they wanted to as they lost the bronze medal match once more. Their loss two years ago against Sweden was repeated once again, this time, Portugal claiming the third place on the podium.

All-star Team
MVP: Dorothee Blaise (France)
Goalkeeper: Dalma Matefi (Hungary)
Defender: Catarina Oliveira (Portugal)
Top scorer: Magdalini Papa (Cyprus) - 170 points 
Fair play: Switzerland 

Perfect Poland defend 2024 men’s title

11 men’s teams: Poland, Switzerland, Cyprus, Ukraine, Latvia, Türkiye, Norway, Sweden, Serbia, Czechia and Netherlands were divided into two preliminary groups with the top four teams in each advancing to the quarter-finals and the top seven teams amongst them claiming a place at the EHF EURO next year.

Poland came into the event as title-holders, having won championship gold in the same competition in 2024 and they did not disappoint in 2026, taking eight victories in a row, ending with a 2-0 win against Czechia in the final – a match they arrived in after taking down 2024 final opponents Sweden in the semi-finals.

The Czech side highlighted their fast-track performance in just 24 months when they finished eighth in the 10-team competition back in 2024. This time around, they not only collected silver but took down Sweden, Norway, and Ukraine on their way. Netherlands won bronze defeating Norway 13:12 via shoot-out.

Earlier, all eyes were on the 7/8 placement match, which was effectively a play-off for the European Championship between Türkiye and Cyprus. The first set saw Türkiye come from behind early on to take a comfortable six-point lead (18:12) into the final few minutes and a one-set lead. The second 10 minutes also saw Cyprus in front, this time for a much longer period, Türkiye only taking the lead inside the final 60 seconds as they went on to claim a 2-0 (19:16, 16:13) victory and ticket through to Lithuania.

All-star Team
MVP: Kristoffer Henriksen (Norway)
Goalkeeper: Krystian Matusiak (Poland)
Defender: Tomasz Kolodziejczyk (Poland)
Top scorer: Petter Brandt (Sweden) - 148 points
Fair play: Poland

Final Ranking

Women’s competition:
1.    Hungary
2.    France
3.    Portugal
4.    Ukraine
5.    Czechia
6.    Poland
7.    Sweden
8.    Italy
9.    Serbia
10.    Slovakia
11.    Türkiye
12.    Cyprus
13.    Switzerland

Men’s competition
1.    Poland
2.    Czechia
3.    Netherlands
4.    Norway
5.    Sweden
6.    Ukraine
7.    Türkiye
8.    Cyprus
9.    Switzerland
10.    Latvia
11.    Serbia

EHF Beach Handball EURO 2027 – qualified teams

Men’s competition

Already qualified:
1.    Lithuania – host nation
2.    Croatia
3.    Denmark
4.    France
5.    Germany
6.    Hungary
7.    Italy
8.    Portugal
9.    Spain

Qualified via EHF Beach Handball Championship 2026:
10.    Poland
11.    Czechia
12.    Netherlands
13.    Norway
14.    Sweden
15.    Ukraine
16.    Türkiye

Women’s competition

Already qualified:
1.    Lithuania – host nation
2.    Croatia
3.    Denmark
4.    Germany
5.    Greece
6.    Netherlands
7.    Norway
8.    Spain

Qualified via EHF Beach Handball Championship 2026:
9.    Hungary
10.    France
11.    Portugal
12.    Ukraine
13.    Czechia
14.    Poland
15.    Sweden
16.    Italy

Photo credit: EHF / HRS / Kolektiff / Jozo Cabraja