Austria and Germany meet in exciting round 3 Highlight Match

GROUP 2

Finland vs Slovakia
Thursday 13 March, 17:15 CET, live on EHFTV

• both sides are on zero points after the first two rounds
• while Finland were close to a draw in Montenegro (29:28) and then lost 32:23 at home against Hungary, the Slovakians lost 37:32 in Hungary and 38:35 at home against Montenegro
• in the previous eight duels of both sides — including six EHF EURO qualifiers encounters — the Finnish side only won once, in the last home match in March 2023 (30:27), while the Slovakians were victorious six times, as one match ended in a draw
• while Slovakia were part of four Men’s EHF EURO final tournaments — the latest as co-hosts in 2022 — Finland never made it all the way

GROUP 3

Georgia vs Bosnia and Herzegovina
Thursday 13 March, 15:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• at the EHF EURO 2024 in Germany, Georgia took their first-ever win at a final tournament against Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning 22:19 in the preliminary round
• while the Georgians had their first appearance at a final tournament in 2024, it was the third straight participation for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they are still waiting for their first point after nine matches
• on the road to the EHF EURO 2026, the Bosnians beat Greece 23:22 and lost 32:26 in Iceland, while Georgia are on zero points after the unlucky 27:26 defeat in Greece and the 30:25 loss on home ground against Iceland, despite a total of 16 goals from their top scorer Giorgi Tskhovrebadze
• Thursday’s match is the fourth-ever duel of both sides; before clashing in Mannheim in 2024, the Bosnians had won the first two encounters

GROUP 4

Serbia vs Spain
Thursday 13 March, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• a double strike by Ian Tarrafeta prevented Spain from a setback against Italy in their qualifiers opener (31:30), before clearly winning 38:29 in Latvia to top the group with the optimum of four points
• the Serbians took a comfortable 38:25 win against Latvia, before they stumbled against Italy and suffered a 31:30 defeat, being now two points below the two-time EHF EURO champions
• while Sebia did not qualify for the 2025 World Championship, after failing in the play-offs against their next EHF EURO 2026 opponents on aggregate by one goal, Spain failed to qualify from the main round to the quarter-finals
• at the EHF EURO 2024, both sides missed out on qualifying for the main round, finishing 13th (Spain) and 19th (Serbia); Spain took part in all 16 EHF EURO final tournaments, while Serbia’s best result in eight attendances was silver on home ground in 2021
• it is the sixth time both sides duel, but Serbia were victorious only once, last year
• the current top scorers of both sides are separated by only one goal: Serbian Dragan Pechmalbec (14) and Spaniard Daniel Fernandez Jimenez (13)

Latvia vs Italy
Thursday 13 March, 18:40 CET, live on EHFTV

• both sides had one appearance each at EHF EURO events: Italy as hosts in 1998, Latvia in 2020
• Latvia were clearly defeated in both previous rounds by Serbia and Spain, while Italy were close to winning, but lost to Spain (31:30); they then managed to beat Serbia (31:30)
• at the 2025 World Championship, Italy were one of the big surprises, finishing 16th after beating Algeria, Tunisia and Czechia
• the match will be the debut of Italy’s new head coach, German Bob Hanning, who in parallel is the managing director of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League participants Füchse Berlin; he took over the helm from Riccardo Trillini
• in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, Italy won both encounters against Latvia; in total, the balance is in favour of the Italians, with four wins in six matches
• in the previous rounds, Mikael Helmersson scored 15 goals for Italy, while Janis Pavels Valkovskis netted 14 times for Latvia

GROUP 6

Kosovo vs Ukraine
Thursday 13 March, 20:15 CET, live on EHFTV

• it is the first-ever international duel between both sides
• no team scored more goals in the first two rounds than Ukraine: they netted 74 times in the 40:39 defeat in the Netherlands and the 35:32 victory against the Faroe Islands
• Kosovo rank fourth, one point below their opponents, after the 32:21 defeat in the Faroes Islands and the surprising 33:33 draw against the Dutch side
• Kosovo still wait for their first qualification at an EHF EURO final event, while the Ukrainians were part of final tournaments seven times, the latest in 2022, when they finished 24th
• two Ukrainians lead the top scorer list after two rounds: Dmytrio Artemenko netted 21 times and Ihor Turchenko 20 times; Valon Dedaj scored 12 times for Kosovo

GROUP 7

Highlight Match: Austria vs Germany
Thursday 13 March, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• Austria are unbeaten in the EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers after a 31:28 against Türkiye and a 29:29 in Switzerland; the EHF EURO 2024 hosts also won their previous two games, against Switzerland (35:26) and Türkiye (36:29), to top the group
• coach Aleš Pajovic took over the German club SG Flensburg-Handewitt in parallel in January – and will face his player Johannes Golla, team captain of Germany
• Germany won their last 22 consecutive EHF EURO Qualifiers matches since their defeat in Spain in May 2015; their last draw in any EHF EURO Qualifiers game was a 26:26 in 2010 – against their upcoming opponents Austria
• Germany were part of 15 (out of 16) EHF EURO events and won the full set of medals: gold (2004, 2016), silver (2002) and bronze (1998), while Austria’s best position in six participations was eighth place in 2020 and 2024
• seven Austrian players who play for German clubs are nominated for the double-header; their team captain Nykola Bilyk, who plays for THW Kiel, is ruled out after a knee injury
• in 12 previous official matches, Austria took two draws and were defeated 10 times; the last tied result was 22:22 at the EHF EURO 2024, followed by a 34:31 defeat in the qualification tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympics

GROUP 8

Poland vs Portugal
Thursday 13 March, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• the outcome of both sides at the 2025 World Championship was different: Poland missed out on qualifying for the main round and finished 25th as winners of the Presidents’ Cup, while Portugal qualified for the semi-finals for the first time ever, finishing fourth
• after a close 28:27 win in Romania, Poland tied against Israel (32:32) to be second in this group
• Portugal won both previous qualifiers, 37:30 against Romania and 36:23 against Israel
• Portugal’s famous Costa brothers, Martim and Francisco, were both part of the All-star Team at the 2025 IHF World Championship, alongside line player Victor Iturriza
• the previous six duels of both sides were balanced, with each side taking two wins and two matches finishing in draws

Israel vs Romania
Thursday 13 March, 21:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• due to the current political situation, the match is played on neutral ground in the Serbian city Kraljevo
• Israel have only played away matches so far, losing 36:23 in Portugal and drawing sensationally in Poland (32:32)
• after qualifying for the EHF EURO 2024 following a 28-year-wait, Romania started with two defeats in the EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers – a 28:27 against Poland and a 37:30 against Portugal – and are currently fourth-ranked
• Romanian left back Tudor Botea is sixth-ranked in the top scorer list after two rounds with 17 goals
• Romania won all four previous encounters against Israel, the last win was in January 2022 in the first round of the 2023 World Championship qualification

Photos © DIENER | Carsten Harz (main), JLRECIO, Peter Spark / PhotoReport.in