Hungary and Germany eye EHF EURO places as qualifiers resume
The final stretch on the path to the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 lies ahead, with rounds 5 and 6 of the qualifiers taking place this week, starting with round 5 on Wednesday and Thursday. 16 tickets to the final tournament in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are still up for grabs, and 28 teams are fighting for them — although some, whose chances are presently slim, may bow out of contention this round.
In the first match against Lithuania in Velenje, the most important thing was that we won both points and started the EHF EURO Qualifiers so well. Now we will fight for the first place in the group, which brings a higher position in the draw. That will be our goal on Wednesday!
We want to play well and win in Slovakia on Wednesday. We had problems against them in the first round of the qualification matches, they played well in the one-on-one game, we want to prevent that now.
It will be difficult to qualify, we know that. But we are playing against Croatia, the vice world champions. This is a great opportunity for us as a team to see what we can do against a team with such top players. We are going to give 200 per cent and then we will see where we end up. The mission is difficult. But even if there is only a glimmer of hope, we have to go for it.
It's always a great feeling to wear the Croatian jersey. We have two matches left this season and, of course, we want to keep the winning spirit and continue the positive story we've started — so there will be no relaxing. The goal is to win both games. Belgium has a strong team, but I believe in us and that we'll put on another solid performance to secure victory.
We’ll give it everything we’ve got and do everything we can — then we’ll see what the outcome is. As a very young team, we want to continue developing. We’re going to enjoy the game and show 100 per cent effort and determination.
Everyone must feel that we are getting better step by step. We played very well in the past matches. I hope we can now experience a European or World championship.
The crowd in Stavanger has always given us a good backing, as they did when we played against France in November. We have been using the EHF EURO Cup to gain valuable experience and good references against the world’s best teams. We get to build on the systems we believe in and the culture within our group. That will be important this match week well.
It's a classic rivalry, and a great opportunity to test new players in a competitive setting. We’ve made some changes to the squad to give several of our regulars a break. It’s important for us to look ahead and keep building the depth of our squad, and I’m excited to see how the newer guys take on the challenge.
It is the last national team week for the season and it will be exciting to play against two such good teams. For me France and Denmark are the two best teams in the world right now, then we are a few countries that are chasing from behind. We really have to play on our very top to be able to win and we are thrilled to play at home soil again.
It is a special time in the season: We are heading into the final stretch with our clubs, we are all a bit tired — physically and mentally — but as soon as you join the national team, you have to switch gears, put that jersey on with pride, and treat this week as a real opportunity to work hard. There are also some new faces in the squad, so it is important to show them how things work here — what our values are, how we operate.
