Netherlands and Serbia hit 40-goal mark; Spain end round with commanding win
After Faroe Islands won away in Iceland on the opening day of the Women's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers, the home sides did not drop a single point on Thursday, as round 1 ended with six exciting matches.
It wasn't easy for our team to find their level against an unknown opponent at the beginning. Over time, we were able to adjust better to our opponents, and I'm happy about our victory!
The Swiss team has developed strongly in recent years. Against such a strong, well-coordinated team, there was nothing more we could do today. That's why we're not too disappointed.
For this game we planned to focus on our own qualities. We performed and played at our own level. I think it’s nice to play this type of game in your country, where it can be a little more relaxed.
This match was a great opportunity for us to grow. It’s good to play against a country that plays at the top level. It’s a great way to compare us to such a team. We have a young team, from 18 to 24, and we try to grow little by little and match by match.
It was not an easy match, as North Macedonia challenged us for a long time. In the beginning we were not at our high, missing too many chances, but in the second half we really improved, scored many easy goals and took a clear win. We simply continued the way we wanted to play, we did not get under stress, but simply played our game.
We played quite well for 40 minutes, but then you saw, we are a young team, younger and a more inexperienced than Germany. For a long time, we really showed what we are able to do, but then they had more power. Now we hope to make it better against a strong team from Slovenia.
It was good for us to get the win, but we can expect more from ourselves. At the same time, Ukraine had a good performance and they were really aggressive in defence, which blocked us a bit. But we managed to win and that was the most important thing today.
It was so amazing to come to Sweden, we have been so welcome here. We heard that we would have a lot of supporters in the arena, but it was really special to see 150 Ukrainians living in Alingsas cheering for us. We really felt the support and how they cheered for us and we are so grateful for that. It was a tough game, as we are a young team, but we played with a big heart and fought for every ball.
Well, I think the team has done a really good job throughout the week. We’ve been working very hard, giving our all in everything that’s been asked of us, and I think that really showed on the court. We fought for every ball, and that allowed us to build a lead. It was such an exciting game, especially playing so close to home — we were all so motivated and happy.
We tried our best. It was not our day, but we will focus and we will keep our minds focused on the next game against Austria at home. We will try to put our minds together and show a much, much better performance on Sunday.
