In addition to Poland’s hosting, the tournament, running from December 3-20, 2026, will be hosted by Romania (Oradea and Cluj-Napoca), the Czech Republic (Brno), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Turkey (Antalya).

The matches of the main phase (second group round) will be played in Cluj-Napoca and Katowice. The final matches, including those for medals, will be held in Poland. The tournament will include 24 teams.

Initially, the EHF Euro 2026 women's tournament was to be held in Russia. However, in June 2023, the European federation decided to change the host.

In November 2023, six national federations submitted applications to host the event. In the end, in addition to the joint candidacy of Poland and the Czech Republic, Turkey and Romania, along with Slovakia, submitted their accessions. Spain withdrew its bid during the qualification process.

In the following months, the EHF conducted inspections and interviews with the interested national federations. They concluded that all five submitted federations should jointly host the tournament, in order to further develop the sport in multiple countries.

"We are very pleased that one of the most important tournaments in European handball will again be hosted in our country. Poland will be the main organizer of the tournament. The championship will be played in our country from start to finish" Henryk Szczepanski, president of the Handball Association of Poland said.

The EHF Euro 2026 will be the third senior international tournament Poland has hosted. In 2016 the country staged the men’s European Championships and in 2023 the men’s World Championships.

The 2026 Women's European Handball Championship will be held for the first time in a five-host format. The Euro 2024 tournament (November 28-December 15) will be played in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland.