Defending champions Victor Crouin and Tinne Gilis have been named top seeds for what’s set to be an intriguing 2026 ESF European Individual Closed Squash Championships in Budapest (19-22 August).
This summer’s championships at City Squash Club and the adjacent Ormai László Hall in the Hungarian capital will feature plenty of sub-plots.
As the respective top seeds from France and Belgium seek to retain their European titles, the event will also see men’s 5/8 seed Mohamed Elsherbini make his debut for Slovenia, having switched nationalities from Egypt earlier this year with Olympic qualification in mind.
Thoughts will also inevitably turn to next year’s EICC which will ‘double up’ as the first ever squash competition in the 2027 European Games in Istanbul, which also forms part of the qualification system for LA28.
The two gold medallists in Türkiye next summer will seal their place in squash’s first ever Olympic draw (subject to being in the PSA top 50 on 22 May 2028).
But before all that unfolds, 123 of Europe’s best players will converge on Budapest later this month. Chasing three-time champion Crouin for the men’s title will be no.2 seed Dimitri Steinmann of Switzerland, who was runner-up to the French no.1 two years ago in Cuenca.
The traditional season curtain-raiser also sees Frenchman Baptiste Masotti and Swiss veteran Nicolas Muller seeded 3/4.
The Gilis sisters have dominated the EICC for the last five years and are seeded to meet in this year’s women’s final. Three-time champion Tinne, the current world no.9, is predicted to meet sibling Nele Gilis-Coll in the final for the third time.
France’s Melissa Alves shares the 3/4 seeding with Spaniard Marta Dominguez, with Ukraine no.1 Alina Bushma amongst the 5/8 seeds.
Check out the full seedings for the ESF European Individual Closed Squash Championships here
The draws will be made and published on Tournament Software three days before the event begins
You can watch live coverage of the 2026 ESF European Individual Closed Squash Championships for FREE on European Squash TV
