SUMMARY: Round 3 ends with big French, Dutch wins and a first for Finland

Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers

• round 3 concluded with five matches on Thursday:
  - group 1 — Croatia vs France 19:30 (7:19)
  - group 1 — Finland vs Kosovo 23:21 (14:10)
  - group 2 — Switzerland vs Netherlands 21:39 (10:18)
  - group 2 — Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Italy 28:25 (14:12)
  - group 5 — Ukraine vs Lithuania 30:29 (15:16)
  
• check the group standings
• the EHF EURO Cup also continued with round 3, including Highlight Match Hungary vs Denmark 19:21 (9:9)
• tune in to EHFTV (check the TV Guide for geo-restrictions) or consult the Where to watch info to see you favourite teams live in action
• Eric Willemsen reported; photos courtesy of the respective home teams

Thursday 5 March

22:15

Here ends our coverage of round 3 of the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers. Read all what happened in the day review below.

A very enjoyable round — and the best thing is that we are going to witness the same match-ups over the weekend, as the reverse fixtures scheduled in round 4 will be played on Saturday and Sunday. Note that in round 3 and 4 the group 6 matches involving Israel, set to play Greece twice, have been called off and will be rescheduled at a later date.

The preview for round 4 of the qualifiers as well as for round 4 in the EHF EURO Cup will appear on eurohandball.com on Friday.

For now, thanks for following all the round 3 action here on the live blog yesterday and today. Have a great evening and make sure to tune back in over the weekend!

21:51

Here on the live blog, we have been focussing on the EHF EURO Qualifiers, but don't forget that the EHF EURO Cup is also running, with the teams seeded directly for the final tournament.

Denmark won the Highlight Match in Hungary (see the best moments below), while Norway (in Poland) and Romania (in Slovakia) also earned victories; you can read all about it in the day review.

21:42

That's a wrap for round 3 — and what a round it has been. Today saw France and the Netherlands confirm their status as favourites, but with even bigger wins than expected in Croatia and Switzerland, respectively.

The other three matches were all much closer, with a one-goal win for Ukraine, a two-goal win for Finland, and a three-goal win for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Finland matched Belgium's achievement from Wednesday as this was their first ever victory in a qualification phase 2 match; they had three wins from phase 1 matches in the past.

Check HERE how Thursday's results affect the various group standings heading into round 4 this weekend.

14:51

Not much time to waste as our first match throws off soon: Ukraine meet Lithuania in the Slovakian city of Michalovce, where throw-off is scheduled for 15:00 CET.

Both teams are on zero points in group 5 after the first two rounds, so a win is what they will be after both.

14:45

Good afternoon again and a very warm welcome back to the live blog for the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers!

We started round 3 with six matches on Wednesday, full of excitement, surprises, and a historic result. Now we are going to round it all off with the remaining five matches on Thursday as all teams are eager to boost their chances of qualifying for the final tournament in Poland, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia and Türkiye in December 2026.

Read in the day preview what awaits us this afternoon and evening: