Here is Romania's preliminary group at the European women's handball: the semifinals, a forbidden dream?!
Article by Cezar Titor – Published Thursday, April 16, 2026 7:46 p.m. / Updated Thursday, April 16, 2026 7:50 p.m.
Tonight, the draw for this year's European Women's Handball Championship took place in Katowice, Poland. Romania, one of the host countries of the tournament, did not get rid of the “dragon” Norway, but the other two opponents are accessible, Switzerland and North Macedonia.
The final tournament will take place between December 3-20, and Romania is the host, along with Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey. In the preliminary round, the 24 teams were divided into six groups of four teams each.
The first two ranked teams from each group will qualify for the main round, which will be played in Cluj-Napoca (teams from groups A, B and C), respectively Katowice (groups D, E and F).
The Final Four will be played in Katowice, Poland – Spodek Arena, on December 18, the semifinals, with the final scheduled for December 20.
What the preliminary groups look like at the European Women's Handball Championship in 2026: we didn't escape Norway!
-
Group A: Hungary, Montenegro, Slovenia, Iceland
-
Group B: Norway, RomaniaSwitzerland, North Macedonia
-
Group C: Denmark, Spain, Turkey, Greece
-
Group D: Czech Republic, Austria, Netherlands, Croatia
-
Group E: France, Poland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine
-
Group F: Sweden, Germany, Slovakia, Serbia
Who are, in short, Romania's opponents at the European Championship in the preliminary group:
-
Norway is the best national women's handball team in the world: triumphant in the last three continental tournaments, world champion and Olympic en-titre.
-
In December, the “tricolors” “demolished” Switzerland in the last game of the World Championship, in Rotterdam, securing 9th place, score 36-24.
-
North Macedonia is a young nation, under reconstruction, difficult to cause problems for Romania.
The semi-finals, forbidden dream?
If we get the tickets for the main group, we will most likely meet Hungary, Montenegro, Norway, Denmark and Spain.
Norway, Denmark and Hungary beat us where they caught us. Including Montenegro will start with the first chance on paper, despite some recent withdrawals from the national team.
Montenegro and Hungary beat us in their groups at Euro 2024, and Denmark and Hungary beat us at the 2025 World Cup.
How the ballot boxes looked:
-
Urn 1: Norway, Denmark, Hungary, France, Sweden, Netherlands
-
Urn 2: Germany, Montenegro, Poland, RomaniaSpain, Czech Republic
-
Urn 3: Turkey, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria, Faroe Islands
-
Urn 4: Croatia, Serbia, Iceland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Greece
The teams were allocated into value boxes based on the results of the 2026 qualifiers and the final ranking from the 2024 European Championship.
According to the regulations, six teams have already been assigned to groups: Hungary in group A, Romania in group B, Turkey in group C, Czech Republic in group D, Poland in group E, Slovakia in group F.
Where will the games from the 6 groups be played:
-
Group A: Oradea
-
Group B: Cluj-Napoca (where Romania will also evolve)
-
Group C: Antalya, Turkey
-
Group D: Brno, Czech Republic
-
Group E: Katowice, Poland
-
Group F: Bratislava, Slovakia
The five host nations, along with the top three placed in the previous edition, automatically got the tickets for the final tournament. The other 16 teams earned their place following the recently concluded qualification campaign. Romania did not take part in the preliminaries, participating in this period in the EHF Euro Cup.
