Quiet weeks happen, and this was one of them. Club handball is deep in pre-season, the keeper market gave us nothing new, and the M20 EHF EURO wrapped up a week ago. So this round-up looks forward rather than back, because Wednesday brings two tournaments that will put dozens of young goalkeepers on the biggest stage of their careers so far.

Coming up: a big Wednesday for young keepers

The M18 EHF EURO 2026 starts on 29 July in Serbia and runs until 9 August. Twenty-four teams are in. Serbia host, and Denmark, France, Spain and Germany are all there. The EHF has published a broadcast guide if you want to follow the matches live.

The same day, the 11th IHF Women's Youth (U18) World Championship begins in Romania. Thirty-two nations play across Craiova, Mioveni, Pitești and Râmnicu Vâlcea until 9 August, with the final weekend in the Pitești Arena. Croatia, Denmark, Hungary and Spain are among the top seeds, and the hosts get a home crowd for the whole run.

Tournament handball is its own school for a goalkeeper: a match nearly every day, video on every opponent, and no time to dwell on a bad half. If you coach young keepers, the next fortnight is full of free lessons.

Results worth noting

The second-tier under-20 tournaments finished in Pristina, Kosovo, with the EHF's report landing last Monday. The Netherlands won the M20 EHF Championship I with a perfect record, beating Estonia 34:28 in the final. Finland took Championship II, holding off Slovakia 30:26.

A detail for the goalkeeping-minded: Georgia and Montenegro finished their fifth-place match level at 28:28, and Georgia won the shoot-out 31:30, three successful throws to two. The EHF report named top scorers rather than keepers, so there are no save counts to pass on, but a shoot-out for fifth place at the end of a long week is exactly the kind of moment a young keeper remembers for years.

Around the clubs

Bundesliga squads returned to training through July, and the league starts again at the end of August. One goal line already worth watching: SC Magdeburg go into 2026/27 with a Croatian pair between the posts, Dominik Kuzmanović arriving to join Matej Mandić, as handball-world's squad preview sets out.

The keeper transfer market stayed quiet this week. Nothing new and confirmed beyond the moves covered earlier this month, Torbjørn Bergerud to Fredericia and Miljan Vujović to Wisła Płock.

More next Monday, when both youth tournaments will have real matches to talk about.

Sources

• EHF — Netherlands and Finland celebrate M20 EHF Championship titles (20 July 2026)

• EHF — M18 EHF EURO 2026 competition page

• EHF — Where to watch Men's 18 EHF EURO 2026 (25 July 2026)

• IHF — 11th IHF Women's Youth (U18) World Championship

• handball-world — Kroatisches Torwart-Duo: Der Kader des SC Magdeburg 2026/27