Live blog: Hard-fought win for Slovenia; Portugal and Iceland celebrate

• day 2 of the Men's EHF EURO 2026 preliminary round
• at 18:00 CET, Portugal vs Romania, Slovenia vs Montenegro, Iceland vs Italy
• at 20:30 CET, Denmark vs North Macedonia, Faroe Islands vs Switzerland, Hungary vs Poland
• read the day preview
• find out how to follow the men's EHF EURO online, on TV and on social media
• vote for the Player of the Match on the Home of Handball app, 15 minutes before each game's final whistle

FRIDAY 16 JANUARY

17:50

Soon after arriving at the arena, the players talked to the journalists to share their expectations about tonight. There's no doubt that the Men's EHF EURO 2026 means a lot to the Italian squad, and left back Davide Bulzamini emphasised that.

17:40

20 minutes until throw-off, so make sure you’re all set to enjoy the action - luckily, we’ve prepared a guide for you, so just click here to find out how to follow the games.

17:15

The Men’s EHF EURO 2026 is expected to be a challenging one for Slovenia, who are hardly hit by injuries, with Aleks Vlah being their most notable absence. Elias á Skipagøtu also dealt with a shoulder injury ahead of the tournament, but he is included in today’s roster, so we’ll have to wait and see if he has made a full recovery.

Hungary will miss their reliable line player Bence Bánhidi, while Danish stars Emil Madsen and Thomas Arnoldsen complete the list of players who were unable to attend this year’s edition.

17:00

One hour until the games start, and here in Herning the Portuguese and Romanian players are slowly getting into the groove, talking and warming up. Portugal counts on all their star players, while Romania have to do without Demis Grigoraș, who was key during their 2024 campaign, but is now recovering from an injury.

Fun fact - Romania took their biggest EHF EURO win against Portugal, 38:21, back in June 1994, which was also the only time the two sides met in the final tournament. 

16:40

The arena is pretty quiet at the moment, with only Martim Costa making a brief appearance on the court earlier. But for sure the Danish fans will make plenty of noise later tonight!

Meanwhile, take a look at some of the goals that left the crowd astounded yesterday. Who will steal the spotlight today?

16:00

Talking about talented goalkeepers, here are the most spectacular saves from day 1 of the preliminary round.

The live blog will take a short break as we'll be heading to Jyske Bank Boxen soon, but we will resume the coverage from the heart of the action. Stay tuned!

15:15

Today marks Italy’s return to the EHF EURO after 28 years - and the first time they qualified on merit, after participating as hosts in 1998 - facing Iceland in the opening match. One of the players to watch is goalkeeper Domenico Ebner, who already made an impression during the qualifiers for 2026 and their World Championship campaign last year. Italy are motivated to put on a great show, with “a huge sense of pride” igniting the team, as Ebner highlights.

14:40

But the stats might give us a bit of an insight on what to expect from the match between the Faroe Islands and Switzerland…

14:05

Faroe Islands and Switzerland will light up Unity Arena in Oslo/Baerum when they meet today at 20:30 CET. The two have never clashed at the EHF EURO, and their last meeting was in the qualification for the World Championship in 2010, so there’s no way to tell what this game will be like.

Our EHF journalists discussed with both sides before the start of the championship. Listen to what Swiss legend Andy Schmid and Faroese star Elias á Skipagøtu had to say a few weeks ago.

13:35

It’s the second consecutive EHF EURO appearance for Romania - fourth overall - and they are about to face a well-known opponent in the opening match: Portugal. The two nations also met in the qualifiers for the 2026 edition, when each side took a home win.

The squad is now an interesting mix of experienced players and youth talent, and the team looked quite relaxed at the photoshoot a couple of days ago, as shown on their Instagram - a bit of fun before they switched their focus to the games ahead.

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13:05

Ahead of the tournament, we talked to some of the handball stars who will represent their countries, and we’ll share the best bits with you here.

Let’s start with group B, where the spotlight is on none other than Denmark and Portugal, who share the group with North Macedonia and Romania. All eyes will be on Herning for the whole duration of the tournament, with Jyske Bank Boxen arena hosting not only preliminary round and main round games, but also the final weekend - which fuels Denmark’s ambition for gold even more, as talented Mathias Gidsel highlights.

After their historic result at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, Portugal’s expectations are higher than before. Long-standing captain Salvador Salvador hopes to lead the Heróis do Mar to a medal - a challenging but not impossible task, with the Costa brothers also expected to bring their A-game.

12:30

Plenty of things to look forward to today! After Herning and Oslo, Kristianstad joins the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 party, which means that we have six games on our schedule.

The Danish fans will certainly be happy to see their team play in Herning against North Macedonia, while the Faroe Islands also expect strong support in Oslo on their second EHF EURO appearance. We might even witness a few surprising results today, with three clashes taking place for the first time in the competition.

Get ready for the games and read our day preview, available here.

12:00

Hello handball fans and welcome to the second day of the Men's EHF EURO 2026 preliminary round. The stakes were high from the very beginning, as the competition's throw-off on Thursday saw thrilling games in Herning and Oslo - Spain and Germany grabbed narrow wins against Serbia and Austria, respectively, while powerhouses France and Norway cruised to clear victories.

As you get ready for the upcoming matches this evening, why not listen to the first podcast episode, which reviews the most important highlights from yesterday. Each day, special guests will join hosts Andrea Lekic, Martin Vilstrup, Víctor Tomàs and Bengt Kunkel on "The Spin" podcast to share their impressions on the games - listen now on Spotify or your favourite podcast platform.