It has been running since January 15, 2026 Handball-European Championships in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Twelve teams have made it into the main round and are fighting for a place in the European Championship final, which will take place on February 1st in Herning, Denmark.
The German national team will play its last main round game against France today at 6 p.m. The game can be seen live on TV on ZDF.
In ours Game plan for Handball-EM 2026 you will find all games and dates. You can also find tables and live tickers for the games in our data center.
:Defensive monster against all-rounders
Semifinals or out? In the decisive European Championship main round game, one point is enough for the German handball players. Unfortunately the opponent is: France. Where do the Germans excel? And where not? A position comparison.
Germany at the 2026 European Handball Championship
After a 27:30 defeat in the preliminary round against Serbia, the German team had to worry about getting into the main round. But after a strong performance against Spain, the DHB team finally came first in the group. In the main round, the German team achieved two hard-fought victories against Portugal and Norway with an outstanding goalkeeper Andreas Wolff. The national team held up well against Denmark for a half, but in the end had to admit defeat to the world champions.
:Just a half on a par with the world champions
Germany loses against the big favorites Denmark 26:31. Now there is a crucial game against France, in which a draw would be enough to qualify for the semi-finals.
Schedule of the 2026 European Handball Championships
Main round at the 2026 European Handball Championship
After the preliminary round, the European Handball Championship will continue to be played in two main groups with six teams each. Each team has to play four more games in the main round. The two main groups at a glance:
- Group I: Denmark, DeutschlandFrance, Norway, Portugal, Spain
- Group II: Iceland, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary
Table of the main round group I
Squad of the German national team
There are 18 national players in the squad for the 2026 European Handball Championship, with the national team led by captain Johannes Golla. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff has the most international matches in the squad with 185, followed by Jannik Kohlbacher. Together with left winger Rune Dahmke, these three players are the last in the DHB team to be part of the 2016 European Championship success. Gislason also nominated six players who will become U21 world champions in 2023. The DHB squad at a glance (Stand 19.12.):
- Tor: David Späth (23 years old, Rhein-Neckar Löwen, 44 international matches, 3 goals), Andreas Wolff (34, THW Kiel, 185, 15)
- Left winger: Rune Dahmke (32, THW Kiel, 94, 137), Lukas Mertens (29, SC Magdeburg, 68, 151)
- Backcourt on the left: Marko Grgic (22, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, 29, 88), Tom Kiesler (24, VfL Gummersbach, 2, 0), Julian Köster (25, VfL Gummersbach, 73, 192), Matthes Langhoff (23, Füchse Berlin, 1, 1), Miro Schluroff (25, VfL Gummersbach, 6, 17)
- Back center: Juri Knorr (25, Aalborg Handbold, 81, 311), Nils Lichtlein (23, Füchse Berlin, 29, 32)
- Backcourt on the right: Franz Semper (28, SC DHfK Leipzig, 28, 59), Renars Uscins (23, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, 43, 172)
- Right winger: Mathis Häseler (23, VfL Gummersbach, 4, 7), Lukas Zerbe (29, THW Kiel, 45, 98)
- Kreis: Justus Fischer (22, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, 32, 40), Johannes Golla (28, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, 106, 370), Jannik Kohlbacher (30, Rhein-Neckar Löwen, 125, 239)
Venues of the European Handball Championships
The 2026 European Handball Championship will take place in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. For Denmark it is the second European Handball Championship, Sweden and Norway are holding the tournament for the third time. The venues at a glance:
- Herning (Denmark): Jyske Bank Boxes, maximum 15,000 places
- Malmö (Sweden): Malmö Arena, 13,000 seats (for handball)
- Oslo (Norway): Unity Arena, 15,000 seats (for sporting events)
- Kristianstad (Sweden): Kristianstad Arena, 4700 seats
:If he wants to, he’s still the bad Wolff
Before the opening win against Austria, he provoked the opponent, then Andreas Wolff, 34, held up outstandingly. The success of the German handball players at the European Championships will not least depend on the goalkeeper performance.
Mode of the 2026 European Handball Championship
24 nations compete in the Preliminary round The teams play in six groups of four teams each. The top two in a group qualify for the main round, the points and goals from the direct encounter are taken by the two teams that advance.
Die Hauptrunde consists of two groups with six teams each. The teams no longer play against their opponents from the preliminary round, so there are still four games to play in the main round. The top two teams in the group advance to the semi-finals, the two third-placed teams play for fifth place.
The European Handball Championship on TV
ARD and ZDF show the German national team’s games alternately live on TV and in the live stream. The public broadcasters will also broadcast 30 additional games in live streams on sportstudio.de and in their media libraries.
The Sport Streaming Service Dyn has secured the rights for the entire European Championship; all European Championship games will be broadcast on the platform.
The European handball champions at a glance
Sweden is the record European champion with five titles, followed by France, who won the European Championship four times. Germany is in fifth place behind Spain and Denmark in the medal table with two wins, two silvers and one bronze.
- 1994: Sweden
- 1996: Russia
- 1998: Sweden
- 2000: Sweden
- 2002: Sweden
- 2004: Deutschland
- 2006: France
- 2008: Denmark
- 2010: France
- 2012: Denmark
- 2014: France
- 2016: Deutschland
- 2018: Spain
- 2020: Spain
- 2022: Sweden
- 2024: France
With material from dpa.
