The official confirmation to launch another campaign to host the tournament for the first time followed the re-election of Sergey Shishkarev as President of the Russian Handball Federation (FGR).

The 52-year-old, the founder and President of the Delo Group, a transport and logistics holding company, was voted in for a second term having initially been elected in 2015.

Shishkarev, a former member of the State Duma and who is estimated by Forbes to be worth $700 million (£539 million/€594 million), was the only candidate and was re-elected unanimously.

It is estimated that he has invested $30 million (£23 million/€25.5 million) into handball in Russia.

Shishkarev had discussed a bid from Russia for either the 2026 or 2028 Championship during a meeting with European Handball Federation (EHF) President Michael Wiedere in Vienna last month.

He has now officially announced Russia will aim for the next available event. 

It will be the second consecutive bid from Russia for the Championship.

They had also bid for the 2024 edition of the event but were beaten by a joint proposal from Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland.

Shishkarev revealed that Russia plans to put forward the same cities - Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, and Astrakhan - to host matches as their previous bid.

"Our chances are great, we have already begun lobbying work," Shishkarev told Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

"There is no handball arena in Rostov yet, but there are promises from the regional authorities."

Russia are one of the top women’s handball teams in the world.

Under Shishkarev, they won the Olympic gold medal for the second time at Rio 2016, beating France 22-19 in the final.

France got their revenge in 2018 at the EHF European Women’s Championship, beating Russia 24-21 in the final in Paris.

The 2020 European Championship is due to place in Denmark and Norway between December 3 and 20 but remains in doubt because of the coronavirus.

The 2022 event has been awarded to Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia.

Another highlight of Shishkarev’s first spell as President was winning a bronze medal at the 2019 World Women's Handball Championship in Japan, the team’s best performance for 10 years.

Shishkarev has set the target of getting 1.5 million in Russia involved in handball.

"The more people are involved in handball, the easier it will be for us to solve the most pressing problems," he told the FGR Congress following his re-election.

"Among them are the arrival of young people in sports, monetisation, search for sponsors and recoupment of clubs, creation of modern infrastructure and increasing the role of Russian handball in the international arena

"In Germany, 800 thousand people regularly play handball.

"One percent of the population is a good target and should be strived for.

"On a national scale, this is 1.5 million people.

"Of course, such a result cannot be achieved right away, however, with systematic work and the availability of infrastructure, I am sure that in 10-15 years we can come to it."