Men's EHF EURO 2026 post-match flash quotes: 25 January
MALMÖ – Comments from players and coaches after matches in Men's EHF EURO 2026 main round group II on Sunday.
SWITZERLAND vs CROATIA 28:24 (11:13)
Andy Schmid (SUI) – Switzerland head coach
On the match:
“I’m not proud, because we played 10 minutes really great handball and after that we made not that we wanted. Everybody had an idea on the field – in the defence, in the attack. I’m still proud of my team, and I’ll back up my team, but today we didn’t have enough players on the level. We have to say it. We have no saves.
“We missed too many shots, and that’s why it’s a deserved win for Croatia. In the end we lose against a vice-world champion with four goals, and we are disappointed. That means that we are on the right way, but it takes some steps to come to this level.”
On the period where Croatia started scoring:
“We had some stupid two minutes in the first half. We had some suspensions, then we get two, three goals on the empty net. That’s why I said it’s deserved. We learn from every minute.”
On the next match, against Iceland:
“Now we relax and try to do it better against Iceland. It will be tough again, and we will see what happens.”
Luka Maros (SUI) – left back
On the defeat against Croatia:
“We were there in the defence like in the games before, they had a lot of space to shoot easy goals. In attack, we made easy mistakes, they made easy contras, easy goals. Next game we see what we can do.“
On the moment when Switzerland started making mistakes:
“I think that moment we started with the easy errors, we took some shots over the goal, when they went on easy contras, shot easy goals, maybe one they scored in an empty goal, but we have to analyse this game to be in the next game better.”
Dagur Sigurdsson (ISL) – Croatia head coach
On the victory against Switzerland:
“We started with a good defence, but we had problems with making goals, but that came, and we found our rhythm. We found our way back into the game, and I think we controlled it very well. Swiss played a great game, and they have a fantastic team, so I am very happy with the result.“
On the key moment in the game:
“I think the key was in the first half when we turned the game around. That gave us confidence, and after that, we were in control, so that was the main point.“
On Ivan Martinović as team captain:
“He passed the first test as a captain, so I am happy for that. Great sacrifice for team, and he did very well.“
Tin Lučin (CRO) – centre back
On Croatia not scoring for the first 10 minutes of the game:
“I think we started the game a little bit nervous, especially in attack, we couldn't score for the first 10 minutes, but good defence and great Kuzma (Dominik Kuzmanović) on the goal, we came back and after we controlled the match to the end.“
On the second half against Switzerland:
“They are a great team, they showed already in previous matches that they can play really good, but also they had some periods where they let us to score few goals in a row, and after the second half, we controlled good the match and we won, but of course it wasn't easy.“
On the next game, against Slovenia:
“I think last two matches we will fight like now, and we hope maybe Iceland or Sweden make some mistake, they maybe lose and we maybe have a chance to go to the semi-final.“
ICELAND vs SWEDEN 35:27 (18:12)
Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson (ISL) – Iceland head coach
On the win:
“It was, of course, a great performance from my team after tough loss against Croatia, we showed unbelievable character and power to fight back against the home nation, which is not an easy task to have. We were in control almost the whole game and almost lost control of the game beginning of second half, got it down to one, but got our game going again and was able to get again a little bit two, three goals ahead and it was the our game the whole time.”
On everything working well on the court:
“We knew it, also the players, we had a meeting about it and we all agreed this is not the way Iceland wants to play handball so that was the main task today, to get that going again and also of course get the right handball quality in the game and we got both now and therefore won the game.”
Viktor Hallgrímsson (ISL) – goalkeeper
On the victory against Sweden:
“First half was really, really good. We played amazing in both attack and defence. In the second half they played for the first 15 minutes and then we took back the control. Really good game overall.”
On Iceland’s defensive performance:
“I still owe them some saves. I did four or five mistakes that I should have saved and again, they were playing amazing defence and I still owe them a few saves, more saves and some good saves in important moments maybe.”
On the next game against Switzerland:
“Just another final, basically. We earned ourselves another final; this game today was our final and now the next game is a final. So, we just have finals until the tournament ends. If we get this momentum going in each game and this craziness, then we have a chance.”
Haukur Þrastarson (ISL) – centre back
On the match:
“Good game. We knew we needed everything today, everything that we have – the energy, the defence, helping the goalkeepers. Better energy than we had against Croatia. I think we brought that energy throughout the whole game.”
On the second half:
“We were doing simple things bad for a short period of time and then we fixed it. There was no panic. Of course, against a great team like Sweden, on home court, they were going to make some run. I think we kept calm and found our rhythm again a bit later in the second half, and finished the game well.”
Michael Apelgren (SWE) – Sweden head coach
On the defeat:
“It was tough, it was hard, nothing really went our way. They were playing an extremely good game and we could basically not stop them in our defence.
“They defended good also, they managed to make some stops in our ball fluency when we were playing with each other. We were also missing too many penalties, they were a little bit off everything today.”
On the second half:
“It was a really good try to come back, it’s not easy to be down with that many goals against this kind of team, but when we were trying to come back we did a very good performance in that part of the game. But every time we went really close he (Viktor Hallgrímsson) made some big saves there, so we didn’t manage in this momentum to fix it.”
Max Darj (SWE) – line player
On the match:
“We struggled a lot in the first half in our defence and also in our attack. The things that we spoke about before the game we didn’t do at all. We know that they have a really good one against one play, and they come the whole game. We need to get the game a little bit more wide, we didn’t manage to do this in the first half.
“But I’m happy with the second half, or parts of the second half; we came out and showed the crowd that we wanted to really do a close game in the second half, and we did some good things, but not over 60 minutes.”
On their comeback in the second half:
“I really thought there we had the flow and we would manage to come over.
“But they did good, they took away our momentum. They played a really good game. We wanted today to get more passes over the court, and they also did this great in the second half. Overall they deserved the win.”
SLOVENIA vs HUNGARY 35:32 (15:17)
Uroš Zorman (SLO) – Slovenia head coach
On the victory against Hungary and the talk at half-time:
“We talked in locker room that we were missing a little bit energy in the first half, we were not so hyped like we wanted. In the end they woke up and we start today the second half like we should also start against Sweden. Congratulations to my players, they are really doing something great and it’s a pleasure to be a coach of Slovenia.”
On playing dramatic matches:
“Without drama it’s impossible, because we are not a team on that level that can beat someone with 10 goals, 11, that you will come in the end without drama. This is how we are and this is the most important to show character and team spirit and I think that this won the game.”
Domen Tajnik (SLO) – centre back
On the match:
“We know it will be a tough game. At the beginning we start a little bit without energy. Because of this the result was two, three goals all the first 10 minutes for Hungary. Then in the second half we communicate in the locker room what we need to fix with this seven against six attack of them, and I think that in the end we deserve these two points.”
On the second half:
“The second half was a lot better than the first half, also the goalkeeper (Jože Baznik) helps us a lot. Defence was a key point in this game, and because of very good defence we scored one, two, three easy goals and because of this it’s a lot easier in attack.”
On the next game, against Croatia:
“We all know what the next game means for everyone, for us and for Croatia. This Balkan derby, we can say it like this, everyone know each other, there will be no surprise. I think it will be a very tough game. We will prepare like every game up until now, and I hope we will win.”
On surpassing expectations:
“Before the tournament the general public didn’t expect results like this from us. I think the best thing in our team is that we have really good chemistry, you can see this on the court. I think it’s easier than no-one counts on us to play like this. I hope we will continue like this.”
José Rodríguez (ESP) – Hungary head coach
On the defeat against Slovenia:
“I think we make the same work now in first half then in the second half, was a little bit like Switzerland. Was totally different first half to second half, but I think we have easy shots that we missed.
“His goalkeeper (Jože Baznik) saved more in the second half, we had problems in the balance in the second half when they recovered the ball for go down and they score easy goals. And then small details, sometimes you can win, sometimes you can lose and in this tournament we are losing more than winning.”
Máté Ónodi-Jánoskúti (HUN) – right back
On the match:
“I don’t know what happened in the half-time, but in the second half we don’t play so good. We miss some shots and defence wasn’t the best, like in the first half.
“We will watch it back and after we will see what we want to change. Now it’s hard to say something, because we lose.”
On another close match:
“We knew before the game it would be a tough game for us, because they play good handball. I think in the first half we play very good, so I don’t know what happened in the second half.
“We have two more games and we want to win everything.”
Patrik Ligetvári (HUN) – left back
On the match:
“How we start the match was really good and how we planned it. We tried to play seven against six against them, and it was working for almost all the match, we had chances to shoot easier against the goalkeeper. Until half-time it was working.”
On the last 10 minutes of the match:
“We tried to take some risks and steal some balls, and to take some fast goals to recover the result. In this case you have chance to recover the result, and you have chance also to get rid.
“I am disappointed but I am really proud of the team, because we were fighting until the end.”
Photo © kolektiff images
