It took time until one team really had the upper hand. While Ukraine enjoyed a better start and an early two-goal advantage, Czechia promptly reacted. As Jonáš Josef pulled off one impressive move after the other, Daniel Kubeš’s side was ahead by three at the break.
It was only a matter of time before Czechia would increase their advantage, helped by their defence, which only conceded four goals within the first 15 minutes of the second half. The gap between the two sides grew steadily until the final whistle, when it reached nine units.
GROUP C
H2H: 6-0-1
Top scorers: Jonáš Josef 15/18 (CZE); Ihor Turchenko 9/12 (UKR)
Goalkeeper saves: Tomáš Mrkva 2/17, Jan Hrdlička 4/18 (CZE); Anton Terekhov 4/30, Gennadiy Komok 0/8, Oleksii Novikov 3/7 (UKR)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Jonáš Josef (CZE)
- the two teams traded the momentum in the first part of the game, each taking a two-goal advantage but not being able to keep it
- Czechia’s Daniel Bláha was given a direct red card in the 11th minute, just as his team took the lead for the first time
- as Jonáš Josef and Dominik Solák scored a combined 11 goals in the first half alone — more than half of their team’s goals — Czechia were ahead by three at the break
- Czechia's defence took the upper hand on Ukraine’s offence after the half-time break and they increased their advantage up to 13 goals in minute 53
- Jonáš Josef, who was elected Player of the Match, presented by Grundfos, finished as the best scorer of the game with 15 goals
- Czechia finish third in the group with two points and secure a place in the third phase of the IHF World Championship qualification, while Ukraine finish fourth with zero points
- this defeat is the 15th in a row at the EHF EURO for Ukraine, who have not won a game in the tournament since 2006
A little bit more than a victory
Not only did Czechia win their last preliminary round game tonight, ending their Men's EHF EURO 2026 campaign on a high after suffering two losses in their first two games, but they also qualified for the third phase of the 2027 IHF World Championships qualification, offering themselves a bigger chance to participate at the next big international competition.
The two coaches, Czechia’s Daniel Kubeš and Ukraine’s Vadym Brazhnyk, shared the same goal — to be able to take part in another competition next year and give their young teams some experience. But on this Monday night, Czechia are a little bit closer to their goal than their opponents.
We managed to play as we wanted. Play fast and pushing the second wave whole game. Through 60 minutes. That was one important thing and the second was a very nice performance from Jonáš (Josef). He played amazingly well. I’m really happy for him.
We were preparing for today’s game. We changed our defence, but unfortunately two of our key defence players were injured and it didn’t allow us to keep the tempo through the whole game.
