Men's EHF EURO 2026 flash quotes: 18 January
HERNING/OSLO/MALMÖ – Comments from players and coaches at media calls at the Men's EHF EURO 2026 on Sunday.
SPAIN
Agustín Casado (ESP) – left back
On their chances of the main round:
“After the match against Austria, we were very happy and we had a good feeling after the victory. But after Serbia’s win, the feelings were different. We played two great games, but we are still not through to the main round, as we still need another top match to proceed. This is a difficult situation, but we have confidence and we have it in our hands.”
On their team depth:
“We need everybody. We do not have many superstars, so everybody counts. All players help us in attack, in defence, in the goal, in the staff. We are on a good way in finding the strengths. We are working very well right now. And I am sure we can do it again.”
On the importance of goalkeepers in the upcoming match against Germany:
“It is really important to have Sergey (Hernández) behind us, but we have (Andreas) Wolff in front. We know him, he knows us. The goalkeepers from us and Germany have shown great games here.”
On Spain’s historical advantage against Germany:
“In sport, statistic looks quite important, but for us players it does not matter. In the end, it is only important, when you are field. Germany beat us twice at Olympic Games in the last duels, tomorrow we want to turn it around and to beat them. We want to continue in the main round, we need to face more top opponents to gain experience.”
GEORGIA
Tite Kalandadze (GEO) – head coach
On Georgia's performance against Croatia:
“Two days ago, if someone had told us that we would lose to the Croatians by three goals and in the last three minutes, I would have been happy. But this game showed us that we are capable of more and that this should be the case so that we can demand more from ourselves.”
On the next game, against Sweden:
“It is very difficult to talk about one of the favourites of the tournament, especially since they are playing in their own walls. Also, a lot depends on how we prepare physically, we want to show that we are a fighting team, that we can play beautifully and creatively. Tomorrow we will do everything we can.”
Giorgi Dikhaminjia (GEO) – right wing
On Georgia's play:
“We must continue to play in a disciplined and team-oriented way. The match against Croatia once again proved that we can perform well and achieve victory against any opponent. From this game, I would highlight our team spirit and the fight until the very last second.”
On the game against Sweden:
“Playing in a packed arena will be a big motivation for our team, it will be a very difficult match for us. but am confident in myself and in every one of my teammates, just like in the first match, no one will hold back, and we will give the Swedish fans an exciting game to watch.”
GERMANY
Alfred Gislason (ISL) – Germany head coach
On their chances against Spain:
“We will give everything to beat Spain. That is anything but easy, because Spain are the team that have performed best in our group. If we want to progress, we have to repeat the two Olympic miracles. We beat them in Paris and Lille.”
On his timeout against Serbia, which avoided a goal:
“We did a lot of things wrong. But I cost us the point with my timeout shortly before the end. I looked at the clock, Juri (Knorr) was quicker than I thought. That goal would have helped us enormously — that mistake cost the team at least one point. In the final minute, we were aware that every goal mattered, and we addressed that. Afterwards, you always know more.”
On Spain’s strengths:
“They have very experienced players, big talents coming through behind them, and above all the veterans work extremely well together. Against their strong defence, we have to use our heads — the Spaniards are seasoned and very good technically. We’ll need a top-class performance, with a lot of heart and even more intelligence.”
Johannes Golla (GER) – line player
On the match against Spain:
“We beat Spain twice at the Olympics, but on Monday everything starts from zero. Spain have pressure, we have pressure, both teams have quality, and we don’t need to hide. We’re confident enough to play the handball we’ve shown recently. With the right attitude, we can bring that onto the court even better. It’s a final, we have a lot to gain. And I’m optimistic because we have the quality in this team.”
SERBIA
Mijajlo Marsenić (SRB) – line player
On the victory against Germany:
“It was an outstanding match. When you win a game like that, it’s much easier to fall asleep than after a defeat, and you simply feel better. But we haven’t achieved anything yet. We’ve taken one step closer to our goal, the main round – nothing more.
“Now we have to win our final against Austria. Against Germany, we believed in ourselves more than against Spain, and that was decisive. We played really well right to the end and stayed cool. In the second half, we played one of the best halves of my national team career.”
On calming down the German fans:
“When I came onto the court and saw all the German fans, I thought we were playing in Berlin or Magdeburg. It was amazing to see how many fans were there. It always motivates me even more when there are lots of spectators in the arena — especially when 99.9 per cent of them are against me. I love that. In the end, they were a bit quieter.”
On the chances against Austria:
“We are not the favourites against Austria, because those matches are always the most dangerous. We have a final, we want to progress, and we’ll have to play even better than against Germany, because Austria are a really good team with a lot of quality.”
AUSTRIA
Tobias Wagner (AUT) – line player
On their chances of proceeding to the main round:
“Serbia did us a favour yesterday, but for us relatively little changes. We have to win this match. First and foremost, it’s about qualifying for the World Championship. We absolutely want to avoid the pre-qualification, otherwise we’ll get a very unpleasant opponent in the second round. Only then will we look at what our final result also means for the EURO.”
On the positive takeaways from the last match:
“The realisation from the first two matches is that every one of us needs one hundred per cent in every game. If we have one or two absences, we have no chance of beating a team like Germany or Spain. It will be the same against Serbia – we’ll need a 100 per cent performance.”
On their final game:
“It was clear from the start that this is a very balanced group. Spain and Germany are the two strongest teams in the group. But no one expected the situation to look like it does now. We want to win – we’ll see everything else afterwards.”
CZECHIA
Daniel Kubeš (CZE) – CZE head coach
On Saturday's game against Norway:
“I felt like we played to our limit and I have nothing but good things to say about our game. I told my guys not to be scared, to play how they know to, and that’s what we did. The feeling is completely different to when we played against France, because then I had the feeling we did not play. This time was completely different.”
On why Czechia struggle to win games against big nations:
“We were not clutch enough in the key moments of the game, we missed two important seven meters throws, we did not defend well on a couple of occasions. But in the meantime, it felt like we struggled physically, five players had muscle problems at the end of the game. We were all really tired at the end of the game.”
On how to improve physically:
“I think our players have to go and play in higher leagues. Or if they want to keep playing in the Czech league, they have to work harder. When you play in France or in Germany, you are used to such efforts and when you come to the national team, it feels normal. As well as, when you play in these leagues, playing against the best players in the world is not a highlight anymore.”
On the game against Ukraine on Monday:
“It’s really important to reward ourselves with a victory and to go home with a smile on our face, even if it is a little one. We have been in the preparation for a while so losing all three games would be a huge disappointment. This will be tough, though, as Ukraine will be in the exact same mindset. We have to be prepared for a big fight.”
Tomáš Mrkva (CZE) – goalkeeper
On Saturday’s defeat:
“It is still bittersweet, because our goal was to progress to the main round, and we did not. But we have to think ahead, the game tomorrow is important for the World Championship qualification, it is important we win this last game as well. It was hard to sleep yesterday night, we were so disappointed. So it has been a short night, but we will try to forget the disappointment and move on.”
On the pride he, as a captain, has for his team:
“I’m very proud because we played a game on a very high level and we showed that we could match with a team as Norway. Maybe we were a little bit starstruck in the first game against France, but now it is different. All we lacked is experience, we only have two or three guys playing in the best leagues in the world. After 50 minutes, you could feel that we were struggling physically, because we are not used to such high intensity games.”
On the benefits the young Czech players could take from the EHF EURO:
“A lot, but this is something we will know in the future. I guess that it shows us the difference there is between the high level and the very high level, and how much we have to work if we want to catch up with the best nations, especially individually.”
NETHERLANDS
Staffan Olsson (SWE) – Netherlands head coach
On the game against Sweden:
“When I watched the game afterwards, the key minutes were the last seven minutes in the first half. We were a little bit confused after the red card for Luc Steins. And then we were losing some easy balls. So I think that was the key minute for this game. Until then, we were fighting really good and also it was equal at that time.
“We didn't come close enough in the second half, but if you're looking at it, I don't know if you can say that Sweden controlled it. We lost with one goal the second half, and we had, some small chances, but we didn't take them.”
On the next game, against Croatia:
“I'm sure that they are a better team than they were showing against Georgia. It was the first game for them also, and everybody knows that the first game is a little bit unsure. Georgia was maybe surprising them a little bit, I'm quite sure that we lose see another team against us, and we know that they are a really good team. They play quite physical 6-0 defence, with tall players, and also in the attack they have shooting power, especially right and left back. We will need to play strong in defence and used it for counter attacks.”
On the game itself:
“It will be interesting to see in which direction the game will go — our fast game, or theirs.”
Lars Kooij (NED) – line player
On the game against Sweden:
“We started the game actually really good. We wanted to surprise Sweden in the beginning with a short three-three. We had some good action in that, but every time we had made a steal, Sweden got the free throw. Overall we made a good start.
“After 20 minutes, we missed a couple of shots and got that red card. It was a little bit a sad moment to say, but in the end, we have still such good players. We have new players, and still, after the red card, we still managed to play actually really good.
“At the beginning of the second half, we also missed some shots and made some technical faults. That's why we became six, five goals behind, but over the whole second half, we fought as a team, tried to get close, but every time we saved the ball, we also missed the ball in front, so that's why it stayed like this.
“On the other hand we played against one of the best teams in the world with one of the best players in the world, and still we managed to play a good game. For us to surprise and to make a win against Sweden, everything had to fit perfectly for us, and it didn't last night.”
On comparing the Netherlands and Croatia:
“When we look at both our teams, Croatia and the Netherlands, I saw one statistic that Croatia are one of the tallest players of the whole tournament, while we are at the 16th place or something. So it's also what you see in a different playing style. Croatia uses more power, more long distance shots.
"We don't use long distance shots, we go for the one against one, we want to breakthroughs and shots from pivot. Croatia plays more two against two, we more one against one. We use way more speed. We have to use this in our advantage, to look if we can overrun them with our speed and try to make some goals with that.”
Luc Steins (NED) – centre back
On his red card against Georgia:
“It was hard to watch the match from the stands. We were fully prepared for this game. We hoped to play an amazing game and yeah, personally, it's hard to sit down on the stand and watch your team and not be able to help them.”
On the defeat against Sweden:
“Overall, my team did an amazing fight over in the second part of the game. Unfortunately, we couldn't make life more difficult for Sweden. We kept fighting for 60 minutes even though the control was at one moment, maybe too much in hands of Sweden. Now, we have to look forward and have to win to be able to go through.”
On the game against Croatia:
“Croatia has an amazing team with great players that are playing in top European clubs. They all have experience of playing at the highest level. It will be a tough game for us especially as Croatia are one of the favourites at this tournament.
“However, last few games we played against them we had some good results, as we didn't lose in last three games against them. So we have to be confident. We know that with the game we play, the handball we play, we can make life difficult for every team.”
On how to beat Croatia:
“We have to make good saves and good stops and defence. If we have strong defence and don't get 36 goals against us and we have some saves, and we can run maybe fast breaks to make some easy goals, then we have a chance. If we don't manage to get some saves and we always have to fight against the strong defence from Croatia, then probably it will be a tough one for us.”
On his Croatian teammate Mateo Maraš from Paris Saint-Germain:
“For sure, yes, he will give insights about me to his team, but I will also tell my team about him and Croatia, don't worry.”
CROATIA
Denis Špoljarić (CRO) – Croatia assistant coach
On a tough opener against Georgia:
“I said before the game, like it is with us in the past 30 years, it's going to be tough. Not physically, but mentally. You have to switch from preparation period and training to competition mode and it's not easy and simple. Of course, I didn't expect it to be as tough as it was, but it is past us. Now we have to think about the Netherlands.”
On what they need to improve:
“We have to be more careful in the attack, not make careless mistakes and give them easy balls because they are very fast. They have three, four players who can run and can punish from fast breaks.
“We must be concentrated as we missed too many shots from made actions, and most important, we need to have a better defence. Tougher and more dense. I hope we will win and then have confidence to play against Sweden.”
On how to stop the Netherlands:
“We will have to stop Luc Steins. Maybe if he can get a red card again.
“On a more serious side, we have few combinations how to stop them, maybe 5-1 defence, but if Steins will be the main problems, we already have some options against him. The main thing is to return to defence as fast as possible, if our defence is ready, it's going to be a tough challenge for them.”
On the 5-1 defence:
“We didn't have a plan of showing our 5-1 defence already against Georgia, we had a plan to play 6-0 throughout, but we had to do it. But, at the ned of the day, everyone knows that's our strength and no one will have it easy.”
Josip Šimić (CRO) – line player
On the game against Georgia:
“Our technical faults and missed back court shots backfired, as Georgia were able to punish them easily. We have to calm down and slow down when things do not go our way.”
On how the Netherlands play:
“They play incredibly fast. We have to stop that and not allow them to make fast transitions. That's where we do most mistakes. And watch out for the goalkeeper (Matthias Rex Dorgelo), who had a good game against Sweden.”
On Croatia's defence:
“Our defence is our key. If we keep our mistakes to the bare minimum, then we will be able to return and stop their main force. Luc Steins and Dani Baijens are crucial in the middle, just like Niels Versteijnen who has had an incredible season in the Bundesliga. He has a powerful back-court shot, but also has a great handball vision and can play one-on-one.”
Mario Šoštarić (CRO) – right wing
On the first game, against Georgia:
“Everyone saw we were playing under a brake, however, in my opinion, who the winner would be was never in doubt. We came back from being down by six by the end of the first half and that showed who Croatia is. Still, we had lot of problems in the attack, too many technical faults.”
On the Netherlands:
“They are a team that made huge progress in recent years and a team with great individuals. They play fast and attractive handball and we have to prepare for that. They will try to overrun us as they have must watched our games and saw our return to defence can be slower. But we will also be ready to stop their play and impose our rhythm.”
On Croatia's defence and goalkeepers:
“We left our goalkeeper alone. Especially Dominik Kuzmanović in the beginning, he had a lot of clear shots. We didn't make a serious foul in first 20 minutes. That's why that's the most important thing to improve. They are our leaders, they talk a lot with us about defence and we need to be ready to fight hard.”
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