Fiery derby as crunch time arrives in Malmö
The Men’s EHF EURO 2026 main round in Malmö continues on Tuesday with a derby clash in which Croatia aim to extend their winning run through the stage. In the other games, Sweden aim to recover from their first defeat of the tournament and Hungary and Switzerland are on the hunt for their first victories of the phase.
The group is tight with Iceland, Sweden, Slovenia and Croatia all on four points, while Hungary and Switzerland are on one. Although the teams on four points are the main contenders, no side is out of the running yet — and the round 3 matches mean crunch time.
They have a good team. A lot of their players are playing in the Bundesliga, so we know them quite well, but they play a different kind of handball. Sometimes they play seven-against-six, sometimes they play with four players in the back court without a pivot. It will be a difficult game.
We all know what the next game means for everyone, for us and for Croatia. This Balkan derby, we can say it like this, everyone know each other, there will be no surprise. I think it will be a very tough game. We will prepare like every game up until now, and I hope we will win.
They are playing fast handball with Blaž Janc in incredible form. We could se in the group phase they were scoring around 35 goals and it says enough about their attack and play. It will be tough, it will be intense rhythm. We need to prepare, especially mentally.
Every game in the European championship is hard with very strong teams. Against Hungary it will be a really physical game. They have a strong defence and we have to find solutions to break through. And then of course, we have to prepare the best possible way to win that game.
