Thanks to Austria’s 26:25 victory against Serbia, Spain have clinched their berth for the main round, even before their duel with Germany. While Austria will miss the main round despite taking their first victory, the second place in the group is set to be decided between Germany and Serbia.
For Austria, it was not only their 10th EHF EURO victory, but the first under new coach Iker Romero. His side clearly improved after the break, while Serbia still wait for their first win against Austria in an official match.
GROUP A
H2H: 3-1-0
Top scorers: Tobias Wagner 6/6 (AUT); Nemanja Ilić 6/8 (SRB)
Goalkeeper saves: Constantin Möstl 11/35, Leon Bergmann 1/1 (AUT); Dejan Milosavljev 13/39 (SRB)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Constantin Möstl (AUT)
- the first half was imprinted by the two goalkeepers, Dejan Milosavljev and Constantin Möstl, in a low-scoring start, as the lead changed several times
- in the final minutes before the break, Serbia took their chances to convert the Austrian mistakes into a 5:1 run from 10:8 to 13:11, mainly backed by Nemanja Ilić's goals
- with the support of many German fans already in the arena, as well as boosted by Möstl’s saves, Austria improved after the break, but they failed too many times against the strong Serbian goalkeeper Milosavljev and could not pull ahead decisively
- while Serbia were shorthanded by two players, Eric Damböck netted for Austria's first three-goal advantage, 23:20 in minute 53 — to the fans' delight
- when Tobias Wagner netted for 26:23 with his sixth strike, the win was secured, even though Serbia managed to reduce the gap to only one goal
Serbia let a good result slip away
Serbia had the chance to proceed to the Men's EHF EURO 2026 main round — but after the defeat, they have to wait for the game between Spain and Germany.
Despite a strong performance by goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev, they did not find the rhythm they had shown against Germany, especially in the second half. Austria were highly motivated, as with a victory they could avoid the pre-qualification for the 2027 IHF World Championship in Germany.
Iker Romero's squad showed their best performance so far at the Men's EHF EURO 2026, but their hopes of making it to the main round were shattered.
It was a hard game for us, we wanted to win from the first minute and we knew that we had a chance (to go to the main round) if we win by four goals, and the game was not so attractive because both teams played for a result, and we won, but it was not enough.
A really good match, a really tough match, I think we played much better in the first half. In second half I think that we didn’t find the solution against their seven-against-six, they prepared good, but that’s sport. So I think we need more discipline in attack, but we still have our chance. So we will wait to see the match against Germany and Spain.
