EURO 2028 qualifiers: Montenegro in group with Hungary, Faroe Islands and Kosovo

The "Lions" were drawn from the third pot, based on their rating on the European Handball Federation rankings.

Hungary comes from the first pot, which also had much tougher rivals. We played them in the qualifiers for the last European Championship and lost in Podgorica, while the match in Tatabanja ended without a winner.

The Faroe Islands are probably the toughest rival from the second pot, and at the previous European Championship in Oslo, they convincingly defeated us.

Kosovo is a rival made to measure from the last hat – we have won against them in all four of our previous duels across two qualifying cycles.

The 2028 European Championship is scheduled to take place from January 13 to 30, and four participants in the final showdown have already been announced - the current champion Denmark and the three hosts Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.

32 national teams, divided into eight groups, will compete in the qualifiers.

The two first-place teams and the four best third-place teams from eight groups will qualify for EHF Euro 2026.

Qualifications begin in November this year, with the dates still to be March and May 2027.

As a reminder, Didier Dinar's team will play a doubleheader against Slovenia in May to qualify for the World Cup.

Groups

Group 1: Croatia, Netherlands, Lithuania, Finland.

Group 2: , Austria, Georgia, Turkey.

Group 3: Iceland, Serbia, Ukraine, Estonia.

Group 4: Hungary, Faroe Islands, MONTENEGRO, Kosovo.

Group 5: , Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel.

Group 6: France, Poland, Romania, Latvia.

Group 7: Germany, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia.

Group 8: Sweden, S. Macedonia, Greece, Luxembourg.