Sweden win main round opener after strongest challenge yet

GROUP II

Slovenia vs Sweden 31:35 (15:13)

H2H: 5-2-10
Top scorers: Domen Makuc 8/14 (SLO); Lukas Sandell 7/9 (SWE)
Goalkeeper saves: Jože Baznik 9/35, Miljan Vujović 2/11 (SLO); Andreas Palicka 7/25, Mikael Appelgren 2/15 (SWE)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Lukas Sandell (SWE)

• it was a close match throughout and could still have gone either way in the final minutes, but when Lukas Sandell took Sweden to a 34:31 advantage with 70 seconds to go, victory was assured
• playing his best game so far at the EHF EURO 2026, Jože Baznik had a huge opening, saving at 66 per cent through the opening 10 minutes to push Slovenia to a 5:2 lead; he remained on 50 per cent at the 20-minute mark, when Slovenia led 10:8
• while Baznik made seven saves in the first half, through which Slovenia always had the upper hand, Sweden’s Andreas Palicka stopped six balls and the home side were a constant threat; the score line fluctuated from one goal to three in Slovenia’s favour
• it was the first time that Sweden trailed at half-time in an EHF EURO 2026 match, but with four straight goals immediately after the break, the Scandinavian side were quick to turn things around — and then never looked back
• through the second half, Sweden were always in front, although their opponents threatened to equalise more than once; the last time Slovenia were close to levelling was at 24:23 for Sweden in the 48th minute

National team stalwarts hit 40-match mark

The clash between Slovenia and Sweden marked two players’ 40th games at the Men’s EHF EURO: Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Palicka and Slovenia back Borut Mačkovšek.

With that, Palicka surpassed Stefan Lövgren and Staffan Olsson and joined Tomas Svensson and Magnus Wislander — all members of the legendary “Bengan Boys” generation and multi-time EHF EURO winners — at the top of the all-time EURO appearances list for the side. Meanwhile, Mačkovšek is one game shy of levelling his coach Uroš Zorman and Renato Vugrinec in first place for Slovenia.

With two goals in the match, Mačkovšek also moved into the top five all-time leading scorers for Slovenia at the EHF EURO. With 104 overall, he now sits level with Luka Zvizej in fourth position for most EURO goals for Slovenia.

While Palicka has won four medals with Sweden, including EHF EURO gold in 2022, Mačkovšek counts one — bronze at the 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship. Mačkovšek was also a key figure when Slovenia last reached the EURO semi-finals, in 2020.

Photos © kolektiff images