Round 2 to conclude with action-packed weekend
Round 2 of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers and the EHF EURO Cup 2026 will take place this weekend, with two games on Saturday and an action-packed Sunday, which sees 16 matches on the schedule.
On Saturday, all eyes will be on Luxembourg and Croatia as they throw off the round, with their match the only qualifier of the day. Saturday will also see the first match in round 2 of the EHF EURO Cup 2026, with Norway hosting current EURO title holders France in Stavanger.
Sunday’s matches will include the only encounter between two teams both aiming for their first win, Romania versus Poland; the top scorer of the phase so far, Ukraine’s Dmytro Artemenko, taking the court; and the Highlight Match of the round, Switzerland versus Austria.
Estonia showed against North Macedonia that they are a serious competitor. They played entirely evenly for 45 minutes. Estonians play fast handball, with aggressive defence and an excellent transition to attack. In attack, they use shots from a distance a lot. We must be cautious here and play in the best possible way. We will see what this will bring us in the end.
We are very happy with our win in the first game against Kosovo and we will take that confidence to match number two against Ukraine, for whom we have a lot of respect. It will be a difficult game, but we will fight for the two points.
Belgium has had good results in the last three seasons. Their team is not so well known in the handball world, but I think they are good - many players play in France. They'll be dangerous and we're not going to have an easy game.
Against Croatia, we started the match well. Both in defence and in attack, we were able to play our game which at one point gave us the lead. The longer the match went on, the harder it became for us. I am satisfied with the mentality of my players who kept going. Even at the very end, too, when we still managed to narrow the gap. Looking ahead to Sunday and our first home game of this campaign, that gives us courage to go full steam ahead, supported by the many enthusiastic fans.
We only have a short time to analyse the game against Türkiye and prepare for Sunday. We have to go full speed against Switzerland. I hope the game against Türkiye was a wake-up call. If we play like that against Switzerland, it will be very difficult. The boys can do more and I'm sure they'll show that against Switzerland.
After the match against Israel, we must focus on going to Romania and making up for what we did not manage to get in Olsztyn, I mean two points and win. We know that we are going to a very tough terrain, because in Romania the fans are very loud. To win, we will have to endure this atmosphere.
Sweden is one of the world’s best teams, with many skilled players in every position. So it will be a huge task, but we are motivated, and with the team we have, we should always aim to win the games, no matter who is playing.
