Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland
Featured image credit: Hala Spodek
Three rival bids have agreed to come together to host the European Handball Federation’s Women’s Euro 2026 tournament stripped from Russia, with the Polish city of Katowice set to stage the finale of the competition.
The EHF’s Executive Committee has today (Friday) elected to award the Women’s Euro to Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey in a move to bring elite women’s handball to as many markets as possible.
Turkey had previously entered a solo bid for the tournament, with the Czech Republic and Poland, and Romania and Slovakia, having entered separate joint bids. Euro 2026 will take place from December 3-20 and is set to be the second edition of the national team tournament played with 24 teams.
This year’s event, to be held in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland from November 28 to December 15, will be the first to expand from the prior 16 teams.
The preliminary round for Euro 2026 will take place with one group each in Oradea, Cluj-Napoca, Antalya, Brno, Katowice, and Bratislava.
The main round will be played in Cluj-Napoca and Katowice. Katowice, a host city for the Men’s EHF Euro 2016 and the 2023 Men’s World Championship, will welcome the teams for the final weekend. The 11,000-capacity Spodek Arena will be the venue for the tournament’s finale.
The Women’s Euro was one of a number of major sporting events Russia lost hosting rights to following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia had secured the EHF Euro hosting rights in November 2021, just months before the conflict in Ukraine commenced. Three venues in St. Petersburg and Moscow were proposed to stage the Women’s EHF Euro 2026, which would have marked the country’s first time staging the event. Moscow’s 12,000-capacity VTB Arena was due to host the final weekend.
The EHF in July said contact with the Russian Handball Federation was established with the outcome that holding the event in Russia was “not possible within the given timetable”.
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