The International Handball Federation (IHF) is pleased to announce that the IHF Council has unanimously decided on 19 December 2025 to award the organisation rights of the 2026 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship to the Romanian Handball Federation. 

The competition will take place from 29 July to 9 August 2026 across four host cities: Craiova, Mioveni, Pitești and Râmnicu Vâlcea, with the final weekend taking place in the state-of-the-art Pitești Arena. 

This 11th edition of the event will bring together 32 national teams, providing yet again a global platform for the sport’s most promising young female talents to shine. For the third time in history, the line-up will contain 32 teams, which will be divided into eight groups of four teams each, with the top two sides in each group progressing to the main round.

Organising this edition of the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship represents a significant milestone for Romania, marking the second time the country will host a younger age category IHF World Championship following the 1977 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship.

Romania was also selected to host the 2020 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, which was unfortunately cancelled due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision followed a comprehensive evaluation of the Romanian Handball Federation’s application, which provided a detailed event concept.