Slovakia has become the ninth team to secure a place at the European Men’s Championships, which will be held in Belgrade in January of next year.
The qualification tournament began on Sunday, featuring the first games in groups A and B, each containing five teams. Today, teams across all four groups were in action.
Slovakia was the first team to advance to the upcoming Championships through the qualifications, joining the eight teams that have already qualified according to the standings at the 2024 Europeans (Spain, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania).
Slovakia was drawn into one of the toughest groups, based in Istanbul, where three rounds have already been played. The Slovaks opened the tournament with an easy victory over Sweden (21:11). This win set the stage for two critical matches the Slovaks played today. In the morning session, they defeated Germany 13:8. Several hours later, Slovakia faced the host team, Turkiye. After the first quarter, Slovakia led 4:0. However, Turkiye started to make a comeback. Still, Slovakia managed to secure three points, winning the match 13:12. Turkey never equalized and scored its 12th goal in the last second, when the outcome was already decided. Slovakia mathematically qualified for the European Championships. It will have an opportunity to maintain a perfect record in its last match against bottom-placed Finland. Meanwhile, Germany and Turkiye remain contenders for the only remaining ticket to Belgrade from this group.
All other favorites recorded convincing wins in their opening matches.
Georgia showed no mercy to Bulgaria in a 51-goal encounter. The Georgians collected the points with a 41:10 victory in front of the home crowd in Tbilisi. However, it is worth noting that Bulgaria has a very young team, with nine players born in 2005 or later.
The Netherlands sank Great Britain – 21:3 – in the group in Kranj, where host Slovenia started quite well, defeating the Czech Republic and Poland.. France ran over Portugal – 19:7 in the first round of the group in Gzira. The home team, Malta, earned an important and hard-fought victory over Ukraine, 13:11, in the same group.
2026 European Men’s Championships Qualifications
Group A (Kranj, Slovenia)
Day 1: Great Britain – Netherlands 3:21, Slovenia – Czech Republic 19:8.
Day 2: Great Britain – Czech Republic 13:5, Slovenia – Poland 13:11.
Standings: 1. Slovenia (2 games) 6 points, 2. Netherlands (1) 3, 3. Great Britain (2) 3, 4. Poland (1) 0, 5. Czech Republic (2) 0.
Group B (Istanbul, Turkiye)
Day 1: Finland – Turkiye 6:33, Slovakia – Sweden 21:11
Day 2: Germany – Slovakia 8:13, Sweden – Finland 16:13, Turkiye – Slovakia 12:13, Germany – Sweden 30:3.
Standings: 1. Slovakia (3) 9, 2. Germany (2) 3, 3. Turkiye (2) 3, 4. Sweden (3) 3, 5. Finland (2) 0.
Group C (Tbilisi, Georgia)
Day 1: Switzerland – Israel 13:23, Georgia – Bulgaria 41:10.
Group D (Gzira, Malta)
Day 1: France – Portugal 19:7, Malta – Ukraine 13:11.
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