Hosts Bulgaria will welcome Cyprus, Great Britain and Malta for a pulsating round-robin tournament held over three days, with the teams ranked first and second moving onto the Men's EHF EURO 2028 promotion round, due to be held in January 2026.
The action begins on Friday 11 January at 15:00 CET, with Great Britain taking on Malta, before the host nation take to the court for the first time at 17:30 CET against Cyprus.
Bulgaria will play Malta on Saturday, after the meeting between Great Britain and Cyprus, before the climax on Sunday with Malta playing Cyprus and Bulgaria taking on Great Britain.
The next stage of the road to the Men's EHF EURO 2028 will be the promotion round, held in January 2026. In the promotion round, the top two teams from Men’s EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers Phase 1 will join the three lowest-ranked teams from Men’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers Phase 2, as well as one team qualifying through the IHF Emerging Nations Championship.
The team qualifying via the IHF Emerging Nations Championship will be the side that played the Men’s EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers Phase 1 and did not qualify for the 2028 promotion round but ranks the highest at the Emerging Nations Championship.
The Men's EHF EURO 2028, featuring 24 teams, is due to begin on 13 January 2028 and will be played in Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.
Men's EHF EURO 2028
QUALIFIERS PHASE 1
(All times CET)
Friday 10 January 2025
15:00 - Great Britain vs Malta
17:30 - Cyprus vs Bulgaria
Saturday 11 January 2025
15:00 - Cyprus vs Great Britain
17:30 - Bulgaria vs Malta
Sunday 12 January 2025
13:00 - Malta vs Cyprus
15:30 - Bulgaria vs Great Britain
Every match will be shown live on EHFTV.
Photo © Nikolle QUNI
NOTE: This article has been updated on 11 January at 7:38 CET to correct several mistakes as the qualification system and its stages to the Men's EHF EURO 2026 instead of the Men's EHF EURO 2028 were referenced.
