Path to 2027 IHF Men's World Championship becomes clearer

The teams which finished third in each of the six preliminary round groups are automatically advanced to phase 3 of the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship Qualification Europe, while the teams which finished fourth must play phase 2.

At a draw in November, the pairings for phase 2 were set between the six spots allocated through the EHF EURO; seven sides which qualified for this stage based on their national team rankings; and Kosovo, Latvia and Türkiye, which all progressed from Qualification Europe Phase 1.

Now, the pairings can be confirmed.

2027 IHF Men's World Championship Qualification Europe Phase 2 pairings

Match pairing 1: Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Kosovo
Match pairing 2: Poland vs Israel
Match pairing 3: Ukraine vs Slovakia
Match pairing 4: Serbia vs Lithuania
Match pairing 5: Georgia vs Latvia
Match pairing 6: Türkiye vs Romania
Match pairing 7: Greece vs Belgium
Match pairing 8: Finland vs Montenegro

The eight winners of Qualification Europe Phase 2 will progress to Qualification Europe Phase 3, alongside the six teams finishing third in their preliminary round groups at the Men's EHF EURO 2026: Austria, North Macedonia, Czechia, the Faroe Islands, XX and Italy. 

Those sides will ultimately be joined by another six teams currently playing the EHF EURO main round. World Championship co-hosts Denmark and Germany, plus the four best-ranked teams at the EHF EURO that are not Denmark and Germany, will directly qualify for the 2027 World Championship.

There will be a total of 10 spots at the World Championship up for grabs through phase 3.