Greece make history to qualify for the Women's EHF EURO, as favourites also join

The 24-team line-up for the Women’s EHF EURO 2026 has been completed this weekend, after the last round of the qualification phase took place on Sunday, 12 April, in 12 European countries.

The Women’s EHF EURO 2026 is the first one in history organised in five different countries – Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Türkiye – with the five hosts, plus the top three sides in the previous edition – Norway, Denmark and Hungary – being already qualified.

That left 16 spots to be filled and the qualification system saw six groups of four teams each being played, with the top two teams in each group, plus the best four third-placed sides progressing to the final tournament.

The big surprise was Greece making it through to the final tournament, for the first time in history, after they played four matches in the last nine days. Their wins against Israel, 32:24 and 35:28, secured the third place for Greece in Group 6, but the pivotal moment came against Spain, in the fifth matchday.

Greece kept close throughout the match and with Evgenia Samolada scoring 10 goals, they lost by only two goals, 22:24, which created a cushion big enough to be able to afford a large loss against Austria.

That loss came in the last matchday, on Sunday, when Greece scored only six goals in the first half and 16 in the whole match against Austria, conceding a big 16:38 loss, but  they were the last team over the line, with a -51 goal difference between the third-placed sides, better than Finland (-62) and Italy (-69).

Greece have never featured at the EHF EURO or at the IHF Women's World Championship so far, with their only appearance at a major international event coming at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Spain (12 points) and Austria (eight points) were the teams progressing from Group 6, with Spain conceding only 120 goals in six matches, the third lowest number of goals conceded in the qualifiers.

Group 4 was the most balanced one, with Montenegro finishing first, with 10 points, after a loss against Iceland (27:28) in March, followed by the Faroe Islands, with six points, with the two teams securing their places since the fifth matchday. 

It was already clear that the third-placed side from this group was going to qualify, as that team would be the only one with two points, and in the end it was Iceland. After losing their first match against Portugal, 25:26, Iceland bounced back in the second match, played on Sunday, and won, 32:24, owning the tiebreaker against Portugal and sending José António Silva’s side crashing out.

In Group 1, perennial contender France, the bronze medallists at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, ran riot, and finished with the second largest number of goals scored – 222 – and the lowest number of goals conceded – 93 – as they had no issues against Croatia, Finland and Kosovo.

In the last two rounds, played last week, France dominated Kosovo (44:17) and Finland (39:16). Croatia finished second, with eight points, while Finland and Kosovo were eliminated from contention.

Sweden dominated Group 5, with six wins in six matches, including two clear wins against Ukraine (34:23) and Lithuania (39:18) in the last matches for Nathalie Hagman and Jamina Roberts for the national team. 

Serbia were second in the group, with eight points, while Ukraine finished second in the third-ranked teams’ standings, with a -39 goal difference.

Netherlands had the best attack in the qualifiers, with 227 goals scored against Switzerland, Bosnia Herzegovina and Italy, finishing off with a monster 47:12 win against Bosnia Herzegovina. Italy, which were already in a hole, collapsed against Switzerland in the second half, 19:38, and were out of contention, finishing as the worst third-placed team.

The runners-up at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, Germany, also secured six wins out of six matches, finishing with a 45:25 win over Belgium. Slovenia finished second, with eight points, and progressed, while the third-placed side, North Macedonia, also secured their ticket to the Women’s EHF EURO 2026.

Photo credit: Uros Hocevar / kolektiff