A total of 20 teams are playing for the 10 available places at the final tournament. The M18 EHF EURO 2026 takes place in Serbia from 8 until 18 July.
The 20 teams have been seeded according to their current men's Younger Age Competition four-year ranking, and will be drawn into five groups of four teams. The draw will also determine the organisational rights for each tournament.
Pot 1: Czechia, Italy, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland
Pot 2: Greece, Israel, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine
Pot 3: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Türkiye
Pot 4: Cyprus, Estonia, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Netherlands
The five three-day qualification tournaments are scheduled for Friday 31 October until Sunday 2 November 2025.
The teams ranked first and second in each of the qualification tournaments will progress to the EHF EURO in 2026, joining the teams which are already qualified due to their YAC four-year ranking: Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Portugal, Sweden, hosts Serbia, Austria, the Faroe Islands, France, Slovenia and Norway.
All third-ranked teams, and the three best fourth-ranked teams, will play the M18 EHF Championship I 2026. The fourth and fifth best fourth-ranked teams will qualify for the M18 EHF Championship II 2026.
The draw will also determine the order in which teams may bid for the right to host each of the qualification tournaments. Currently no EHF competitions are taking place within Ukraine and Israel, so these two federations will both be placed fourth in the organisational rankings in their respective groups.
