The Federation announced the final group for the European Men's Handball Championship » Romania's opponents and schedule

Ashley Davis13/01/2026

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Article by David Istrate – Published on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, 17:54 / Updated on Tuesday, 13 January 2026 17:57

The Romanian Handball Federation announced the team that will represent Romania at the European Men's Handball Championship, organized between January 15 and February 1, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The Romanian national men's handball team is preparing for the second consecutive participation in the European Championship. The tricolors were assigned to group B, alongside Denmark, the four-time world champion, Portugal, 4th place at the last edition of the World Championship, and North Macedonia.

Romania will play the group stage matches in Herning, in Denmark, and will debut in the competition on Friday, January 16, against Portugal. In the meantime, the Romanian Handball Federation has announced the team on which George Buricea, the national coach, will be based.

Romania's team for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship

Goalkeepers: Ionut Iancu (Dinamo), Mihai Popescu (Potaissa Turda)
Far left: Alexandru Andrei (Poli Timisoara), Denis Vereș (Potaissa Turda)
Far right: Sorin Grigore (CSU Suceava), Ionuț Nistor (Dinamo)
Enter left: Tudor Botea (Minaur Baia Mare), Andrei Buzle (Dinamo), Robert Militaru (Dinamo), Răzvan Trif (Poli Timisoara), Dan Racotea (Górnik Zabrze)
Enter right: Ionuț Stănescu (Wybrzeze Gdansk), Cristian Ghiță (Potaissa Turda)
COORDINATOR: Daniel Stanciuc (Dinamo), Ștefan Cumpanici (Minaur Baia Mare)
pivot: Călin Dedu (Dinamo), Robert Nagy (Minaur Baia Mare), Andras Szasz (Poli Timisoara).
Andrei Drăgan, Dan Vasile, Demis Grigoraș, Gabriel Ilie, Liviu Caba and Erik Pop are absent for medical reasons

George Buricea, before the start of Euro 2026: “We have something to fight for”

Our group is an incredibly tough group with world No. 1 and No. 4. There is no point in talking about Denmark, a team that is probably the best national handball team in the recent history of this sport. We will play in the hall in Herning, full of eyes, all the tickets have been sold, there will be 14-15,000 spectators. It will be an extraordinary experience for our players, even for the 3 “from Timisoara”. It is a team that will probably win all the matches in this European Championship, it is the favorite by far.

We will give everything we can in the first match, the one against Portugal, who are favourites. We, in the preliminaries of this tournament, met them, we were part of the same group and for 52 minutes, at their home, they had the full team, we were superior. I say it is possible and with that I want to start the video sessions and everything related to this match.

The last match will be against Macedonia, a team, let's say, of our level. I hope we can win that game because it will put us on an easier path to the World Cup qualifiers. We will only play one play-off and if we get good results with the other teams, we have a chance to even reach the first box of the draw for the World Cup qualifiers. So we have something to fight for

– George Buricea, Romania's coachin an interview for Radio Timisoara