European Under-21 Table Tennis Championships-2026 is an annual table tennis tournament organized in 2026 by the Romanian Table Tennis Federation under the authority of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU). It will be held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania from June 17 to June 21, 2026. The championship features competitions for youth players (under 21).
The event includes singles and doubles events for men and women, as well as mixed doubles.
Qualification
The European Under21 Table Tennis Championships shall be open for entry to all member Associations, whose subscriptions are not in arrears. All players must be eligible to represent their Associations in accordance with the provisions of article B.10.3 of the ETTU Handbook. All players must be eligible to represent their Associations by the provisions of article B.1 of the ETTU Handbook. All players must be under 21 years of age on the 31st of December, immediately before the calendar year in which the championships take place (players born on or after 01.01.2005).
The maximum number of entries for the U21 Championships is 56 men and 56 women players.
The eligible 48 men and 48 women players and reserve players for each event are derived from the European Under 21 Ranking list/2026 April. In addition, in cooperation with the Youth Committee and the Ranking Committee, the Secretary General shall grant eight men and eight women a wildcard. If a player is not available or withdraws, the player shall be replaced by the remaining highest-ranked player. If host Association players withdraw, they can be replaced only with host Association players.
Playing system
Doubles events will be played in a direct knockout competition.
The last available published U21 ranking will be used for the draw and the seeding.
In singles events 8 seeded players shall be directly placed in stage 2.
Stage 1: the remaining 48 players shall play in a qualification, played in 12 groups. The winner and the runner-up from each group will qualify for stage 2.
The players ranked 9 - 20 shall be placed in descending ranking order respectively at the top of the groups 1 to 12. The remaining players shall be drawn into the groups 4 by 4 according to the modified snake system. Players from the same Association shall be seeded in different groups.
Stage 2: the 24 qualifiers from stage 1 and the 8 seeded players shall be drawn into 8 groups. The winner and the runner-up from each group will qualify for stage 3.
The 8 seeded players shall be placed in descending ranking order respectively at the top of the groups 13 to 20. The winners of the groups 1 to 8 in Stage 1 shall be drawn on position 2 in these groups, the winners and runners-up of the groups 9 to 12 shall be drawn on position 3 and the runners-up of the groups 1 to 8 on position 4.
Players from the same group in Stage 1 shall not be drawn into the same group in Stage 2 and players of the same Association shall not be drawn into the same group.
Stage 3: the 16 qualifiers from stage 2 will play a direct knockout competition.
The winner of group 13 will be placed on position 1, the winner of group 14 will be placed on position 16. The winners of the groups 15 and 16 will be drawn among positions 8 and 9, the winners of the groups 17 to 20 will be drawn among positions 4, 5, 12 and 13 and the runners-up of each group will be drawn among the remaining positions. Players from the same group in Stage 2 shall be drawn as far as possible from each other and players from the same Association cannot meet each other in the first round.
Useful links
European Under 21 Championships tournament page on the ETTU website: 2026 European U21 Championships
European Under 21 Championships page on Wikipedia: European Under-21 Table Tennis Championships
European Under 21 Championships-2026 page on tt-wiki.info: U21-EM 2026 (Cluj-Napoca, Rumänien)
The photo gallery of the European Under 21 Championships-2025 will be published on the ETTU flickr page: ETTU_official
LIVE coverage of the European Under 21 Championships-2025 on the official ETTU Youtube channel: ETTU Official
Schedule of the European Under 21 Championships-2026 on the ETTU website: General Schedule
Invited players of the European Under 21 Championships-2026 on the ETTU website: Invited Players
Tournament prospectus: Prospectus
