Four teams clear first hurdle on road to 2027 Women's World Championship

The four winning teams have now qualified for the all-decisive play-offs in April 2027, where they will be joined by Portugal as the highest-ranked side not qualified for the Women's EHF EURO 2026, plus the 21 teams that do not earn one of the World Championship tickets on offer at the EHF EURO in December.

Hungary as the hosts and Norway as the defending champions have already qualified for the final tournament of the 2027 World Championship, which is scheduled from 30 November-19 December.

2027 IHF Women's World Championship,
Europe qualification phase 1

• Italy advanced after beating Bulgaria 54:50 on aggregate in what turned out to be the closest tie by far in phase 1

• in their home game in Kranevo last Thursday, Bulgaria started well and led by three goals (9:6) after 17 minutes before a 7:1 run for Italy turned the match upside down, and Italy went on to win 27:23

• the return leg on Sunday evening became a thriller when Bulgaria took a 20:17 lead around the 40th minute, coming close to wiping out the four-goal deficit from the first leg

• however, despite 12 goals from Bulgaria centre back Lidiya Kovacheva, Italy recovered in the closing stage and settled for a 27:27 draw

• Great Britain became the surprise of the weekend, as they outscored Luxembourg 27:15 on Sunday afternoon thanks to 13 goals from Katherine Kesselring and 10 from Lea Davies

• that result caused a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the British team, which had lost the home game against Luxembourg 22:20 just four days earlier in Derby, despite 12 goals from Kesselring in that match

• Kosovo hosted Estonia for a double-header in Prishtina on Friday and Saturday and came convincingly out on top: 64:49 on aggregate

• Kosovo had all but secured the victory already in the first match with a thumping 39:22 win, led by 13 goals from left back Merlinda Qorray

• however, Estonia hit back with a 22:20 win the next day thanks to seven goals from Polina Gorbatsjova (and nine from Qorray for the hosts), which obviously was not enough to make up for Friday's defeat

• the only team with wins in both legs were Lithuania, who encountered few troubles in downing Belgium by eight goals both away and at home

• on Wednesdsay in Hasselt, Gabija Pilikauskaite contributed nine goals to Lithuania's 27:19 win, and she repeated that feat four days later in Prienai when Lithuania beat Belgium again, this time 28:20

photos © Luigi Canu (main); Nikolle Quni (in-text)