Austria and Germany meet in exciting round 3 Highlight Match
Round 3 of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers concludes with eight matches on Thursday, as the Highlight Match focuses on the neighbours’ duel of the two unbeaten sides in group 7, Austria and Germany. The surprise team Italy aim for yet another win in Latvia, while Serbia are already under pressure in another top duel against two-time EHF EURO champions Spain. In the meantime, two EHF EURO 2024 participants, Georgia and Romania, hope for their first points in the qualifiers.
The reverse fixtures of these matches will be carried out on Saturday and Sunday.
They are a very strong team with good balance and a great attitude. We will have two very tough games against them, but I hope we will be able to qualify for the EHF Euro 2026. It will be fantastic to play in front of our supporters, and I hope we will succeed. We have a few minor injuries, but I believe our players will be fit for the game.
We expect a tough match. Serbia is a great team, and in the last World Championship qualifier, we barely managed to qualify. In the end, playing away is always difficult, but we come here eager to do a good job, to finish with good feelings, especially after what happened in January. We are going out for the victory.
Our team has changed a lot in recent years, but we have many talented players who are gradually adapting to the professional training process and competitive matches. I believe that in these two games, we can earn points and take the next steps in the team's development. These matches will certainly not be easy, as Italy is a team that commands respect, but our goal is victory. They have experienced rapid growth in recent years, so we must do everything we can to show resilience.
The emotions after the World Championship are still strong. The group hasn't changed and being back in the national team is always a great feeling. We know that important, difficult but also fun to play matches await us. At the World Championship everyone saw Italy's growth and we are aware that we can compete on equal terms with everyone. On the other hand, we know that we are considered a fearsome opponent, so it will be very stimulating to be on court.
We have two matches to win against Latvia. They are an opponent we respect and know — that we have already faced several times in the last qualifying rounds. We will be ready.
Our task is to take points. This is a tournament and every point, every ball is very important. It will not be easy to win Kosovo. This is a Balkan state, Balkan handball. And it is especially difficult to play on their court. We know that they played successfully against the Netherlands at home. They also defeated Slovakia at home in the World Championship qualifiers. We are preparing very seriously.
We've played against them relatively often recently. It has a derby vibe. You want to win. We are underdogs, especially due to the absence of Mykola Bilyk, but we know we can surprise them and will be there.
It happens quite often that you face players from your club with the national team, but the situation that I face my club coach Ales Pajovic is a bit special. Under his leadership, Austria clearly improved and act as a close team, mainly defending in a very compact way. This works well with the national team.
We have been analysing the Portuguese team since Monday, looking at their formations and plays in attack and defence. We tried to find our chances and our plan for the match. We know that the Portuguese team will be missing many key players, but our rivals still have a lot of quality, which makes it even harder for us to prepare for the match because we don't know how the roles of the other players will change. We have to play with the attitude that we can win every game and beat every team.
We have to respect them a lot if we want to do well here. Given the last-minute changes we've had to make, it can be a bit of a problem because we don't have enough time to work on our routines. But we have excellent players, young players with a lot of quality, but we really lack the time to get the teamwork right, both defensively and offensively. And that could be a disadvantage for us. On top of that, Poland are playing at home and are also in the hunt for qualification. I'm expecting a tough game, but we'll go there to win, that's for sure.
