IHF Women’s U18 World Championship 2026, will hold its preliminary round draw in Basel, Switzerland, on Friday, May 8.
In total there will be 32 places in the World Tournament to be held in Romania.
Drawing dynamics
Qualified teams have been divided into four groups according to their ranking and continental representation. The preliminary round will consist of eight groups of four teams each, and the top two from each group will advance to the main round.
Teams in Draw 1 will be drawn in row 1 according to their performance, those in Draw 2 in row 2, those in Draw 3 in row 3 and those in Draw 4 in row 4.
Note that row 4 is drawn first, followed by row 3, and finally row 1. The same applies to the distribution of teams in Groups A-H in alphabetical order.
Row 2 is drawn at the end, and host country Romania has the option of being assigned to a group of its choice in Row 2, before the other teams in Pot 2 are distributed in Groups A-H in alphabetical order.
Participants
There are 7 European teams, including Slovakia, champions of the EHF Women’s Under-17 European Handball Championship 2025, as well as Croatia, Montenegro, the reigning world champions, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and Hungary in Pot 1, along with the Asian champions China.
In Draw 2, France, Czech Republic, Argentina, Serbia, Germany, Sweden and Japan join hosts Romania, while Netherlands, Slovenia, BrazilSouth Korea, Kazakhstan, Tunisia and Guinea make up Pot 3.
Pot 4 is composed of Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Angola, Canada, Mexico, Paraguay, Fiji and the team qualified through the IHF Trophy.
The competition will be held from July 29 to August 9, 2026 at four venues in Romania.
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Competition system
The top two teams from each preliminary round group will advance to the main round, where four groups of four teams will be formed.
The top two teams from each main round group will qualify for the quarterfinals, while the others will play in the President’s Cup, ensuring that each nation plays a significant number of matches.
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Cover photo: COSCABAL / Jorge Olmedo
