The 20 teams have made it to this stage via different routes. Eight teams — Bosnia Herzegovina, Israel, Slovakia, Serbia, Poland, Türkiye, Greece and Montenegro — were the winners of the ties in qualification phase 2. They are joined at this stage by the 12 teams who finished 7th-18th at the Men's EHF EURO 2026. The teams who finished 7th-16th were seeded for the phase 3 draw.
In fact, Türkiye are the only team still alive who began their journey in qualification phase 1. Along with Faroe Islands and Israel, they are one of three European sides hoping to make their World Championship debut next year. Bosnia Herzegovina and Greece are attempting to make just their second appearances, respectively, with both teams absent for over a decade.
Nine of the ties will see each team host one of the two legs. The exception is the Spain vs Israel tie, where both legs will be played on neutral territory, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Spain, France and Serbia (who inherited the record of Yugoslavia) are the former world champions at risk of exiting at the final qualification hurdle, while Norway, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia have all won minor medals at previous world championships. With Serbia meeting Hungary and Poland facing Austria, big names are sure to fall at this stage.
Six European teams can already look forward to the 2027 edition. Denmark's triumph in 2025 meant they joined host nation Germany in qualifying automatically, before Croatia, Iceland, Sweden and Portugal grabbed their tickets by finishing in the top six of the Men's EHF EURO 2026, alongside Denmark and Germany.
Take a look at the EHF TV Guide for which qualifiers will be shown live on EHFTV (geo-restrictions may apply).
To view the full fixture schedule for qualification phase 3, click here.
