Summary: Germany and France take two points to main round
The Men's EHF EURO 2026 preliminary round is almost at its conclusion. On Monday night, four main round tickets were confirmed: Germany beat Spain in group A, with both progressing as Serbia miss out; Croatia and Sweden's second wins in group E ensure they will also continue in the tournament. France take two points with them to the main round after defeating Norway.
We were patient and smart in attack, we didn’t make technical faults. If you make technical faults they will run and score easy goals. We run good to set our defence, and that was the main reason why we win.
17:40
Click on each of the match pages for the upcoming games to find out who's been nominated for each of the six teams. There's no major surprises so far, apart from Croatia's switches (scroll down a couple of posts)!
17:15
We're heading fast towards throw-off and warm-ups have started. In Herning, Serbia are being taken through a stretching routine by their trainer Marija Lojanica, while Austria were doing more individual warm-ups, but have just had a huddle before really getting stuck in.
16:50
Croatia have unveiled their squad list for tonight - Luka Lovre Klarica and Veron Načinović are out, and Ivano Pavlović and Zlatko Raužan are in.
16:00
Germany and Spain have both found the second halves of their first two games challenging. Germany led by four goals in the first half against Austria, but ended up winning by three; against Serbia, they also led by four at the break, but lost by three - losing the second half 10:17.
Spain also led by four in their first match against Serbia, but won by just two goals in the end; against Austria, a seven-goal lead at the break turned into a five-goal win.
So it will be really interesting tonight to see who has the endurance and drive in the second half to take that all-important victory.
15:15
File this one under "too cute not to share". Norway's goalkeeper Torbjørn Bergerud had some quality time with his little boy after their match against Czechia: the next generation in the making!
It’s a real challenge for me, I feel privileged to be on the bench for these kind of moments. We will not only play against the Norwegian team, but also against thousands of fans. This is the moment we are all waiting for and that we live for. We want to be the stone in Norway’s shoe.
To me, they are the only team that can rival with Denmark, which tells you the level at which they are playing. They have depth, they have quality, they have a lot of tactical options. Physically, they are tough as well. But we beat them at the Olympics not so long ago, and they have the same team almost as they have now. Everything is possible and we really believe in our chances.
