Schedule, locations, broadcast
The most important thing about the 2026 European Handball Championship
December 9, 2025 – 12:40 p.mReading time: 4 minutes
The German national team wants to hunt for the title again at the European Handball Championships. Everything you need to know about the tournament at a glance.
The German national handball team has been waiting for an international title for ten years. The victory at the 2016 European Championship was the last so far. At the 2026 European Handball Championships, the DHB selection around national coach Alfreð Gíslason would like to finally lift a trophy again.
However, the competition at the Handball European Championship 20226 is also great this year. The tournament favorites once again include Denmark, France and Norway, to name just a few contenders for the title at the European Handball Championship. The most important things about the tournament, the DHB squad and the preliminary round groups at a glance:
The 2026 European Men’s Handball Championship will take place from January 15th to February 1st, 2026. The opening game of the European Handball Championship will take place on January 15th. The final of the European Handball Championships will take place on February 1st.
The European Handball Championships will be held in three countries: Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In Denmark, the games of the 2026 European Handball Championship will take place in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning. It offers space for 15,000 spectators. Norway provides the Unity Arena in the capital Oslo (8,000 seats).
In Sweden there are even two venues for the 2026 European Handball Championship: the arenas in Malmö (12,000 seats) and Kristianstad (5,000 seats). The preliminary round games are spread across the four arenas, the main round takes place in Herning and Malmö, and the final round takes place in Herning.
The German team faced tough opponents in the preliminary round. She starts the tournament against Austria on January 15th. Two days later it continues against Serbia and the preliminary round takes place on January 19th against Spain. Should the team move into the main round, difficult tasks await there too.
So far, national coach Gíslason has only chosen a provisional 35-man squad before the European Handball Championships. From this he nominates the final squad for the European Championship tournament, consisting of a maximum of 20 players, on December 17th. During the 2026 European Handball Championship, two more changes to the squad are possible during the preliminary, main and final rounds.
However, these changes can only be made from the 35 players who were nominated before the European Handball Championship as mentioned above. One hour before each game, the DHB must report its matchday squad of a maximum of 16 players for the respective game at the 2026 European Handball Championship.
Germany’s 35-man squad before the final nomination for the 2026 European Handball Championship consists of:
Goal: Joel Birlehm (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf), Lasse Ludwig (Füchse Berlin), Malte Semisch (TSV GWD Minden), David Späth (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Andreas Wolff (THW Kiel)
Left wing: Rune Dahmke (THW Kiel), Tim Freihöfer (Füchse Berlin), Lukas Mertens (SC Magdeburg), Tim Nothdurft (Rhein-Neckar Löwen)
Back area left: Philipp Ahouansou (HSG Wetzlar), Marko Grgić (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Sebastian Heymann (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Tom Kiesler (VfL Gummersbach), Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach), Matthes Langhoff (Füchse Berlin), Miro Schluroff (VfL Gummersbach)
Back center: Nils Lichtlein (Füchse Berlin), Juri Knorr (Aalborg Handbold), Marian Michalczik (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf), Moritz Sauter (HSV Hamburg), Leif Tissier (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf)
Back area right: Kai Häfner (TVB Stuttgart), Stephan Seitz (ThSV Eisenach), Franz Semper (SC DHfK Leipzig), Christoph Steinert (HC Erlangen), Renārs Uščins (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf)
Right wing: Patrick Groetzki (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Mathis Häseler (VfL Gummersbach), Timo Kastening (MT Melsungen), Lukas Zerbe (THW Kiel)
Circle: Johannes Golla (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Justus Fischer (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf), Jannik Kohlbacher (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), Aron Seesing (Bergischer HC), Tim Zechel (SC Magdeburg)