Men's EHF EURO 2026 post-match flash quotes: 27 January
MALMÖ – Comments from players and coaches after matches in Men's EHF EURO 2026 main round group II on Tuesday.
SWEDEN vs HUNGARY 32:32 (14:16)
Zoran Ilić (HUN) – right back
On the match:
“It was amazing to play against this kind of good team. I think it was a hard game, that we improve, because we make some mistakes against Switzerland and Slovenia that we lose the points.
“I think that we show character 60 minutes and we fight until the end to get these two points, but in the end we just get one point, and we need to keep going because we have 24 hours to make regeneration and play against Croatia tomorrow.”
On the last game, against Croatia:
“It will be a special game for us because of the last year (at the World Championship). We have 24 hours to rest after this game, and to play almost the same game with Croatia. It will be hard. I hope that my teammate in the right back position (Máté Ónodi-Jánoskúti) will be fit, and that I’m not alone in my position. I hope that we will win against Croatia tomorrow.
“It’s an amazing team, because in every position he has two top players who’s playing in Champions League or Bundesliga, like two goalkeepers, that he’s playing amazing handball, that he can change in defence 5-1 or 6-0. But I think we can prepare for this game and show that we can win also these kind of games.”
SLOVENIA vs CROATIA 25:29 (11:14)
Uroš Zorman (SLO) – Slovenia head coach
On the match:
“In the end (the match was) decided by their more energy. They had more power, more rotation, more players with this.
“We already start the first half, it wasn’t our game.
“The second half we catch them, we had this power, we set our five minutes, but in these situations, these moments, there was also few decisions I think was not correct so they again take the lead and they didn’t lose it.”
On what he talked about at half-time:
“Whatever you said, it’s normal things, normal words – that we need to do better, we need to put more energy and so on. Nothing new.”
On the last main round game:
“I can say that this is not good, that in less than 24 hours we have one game who decide, these two games in two days, who the semi-finals. I don’t know how we will do regeneration with the players.
“But of course for all (the) group it’s the same. We will do the best, we will try to put heads up and tomorrow play against Iceland, to play good, to do everything to win this game.”
Domen Makuc (SLO) – centre back
On the defeat against Croatia:
"We didn’t start good. We had too many technical mistakes at the beginning. It was very tough to play today. We were bad one side and it was tough to substitute that on the other. It will not be easy to get back from this defeat. But we have one more game tomorrow and some things are still open."
Blaž Janc (SLO) — right back
On what decided the game:
“It was really hard, the match with a lot of emotions. We knew already before the match it would be a special match. I think a lot of our players are first time in Europe (European championships). It’s hard to play in Europe, but especially a game like this against Croatia.
“We made too many mistakes. The attack, it was not so clear like the matches before. I think this was the reason why we lose today, because I think in defence six-against-six, we didn’t have the problems. We made too many mistakes and they scored some easy goals, and here they made the difference. It’s hard when you have to the whole match run and try to get the good result. We have to prepare for the next match.”
On the next match, against Iceland:
“It will be hard. In the end we have less than 24 hours before the next match, so we can’t prepare like we want, but we will try to do the best and we will fight.”
Dagur Sigurdsson (CRO) – Croatia head coach
On what decided the game:
“We had a good start to the game. Goalkeeper helped us a lot to gain the confidence. We were leading the game, we controlled the game well. Of course, strong team as Slovenia they will come back and they did, and put us under pressure. But we were quite clever in the end and showed experience.”
On the last timeout:
“Don't remember exactly what we talked about. Usual stuff, try to keep concentration and don't run out of the defence.”
Marko Mamić (CRO) – left back
On the match:
“It was a very tough match. After the not-so good performance from Iceland we know it will be a very difficult match, because in our heads we are really happy about the result, but we know we need to do our job, and we did it.”
On Croatia’s strong start to the match:
“This was crucial, because we set the tone in the first 10 minutes, and the whole game we controlled the game. In the end we played very well.”
On Slovenia equalising in the second half:
“This is normal, it’s handball. I know sometimes psychology is here very important, and we stood very tough on the ground and found our way to the win.”
On the goalkeepers’ performance:
“Every save was crucial and I think without goalkeeper it’s difficult to play. In defence we need to help our goalkeepers and they’ll help us. In the end it was good for us.”
On the next game, against Hungary:
“We are thinking already about the next game because it’s about semi-finals. We want this, and 100 per cent we go on this game.”
Matej Mandić (CRO) – goalkeeper
On what decided the game:
“It was the defence. In the first half we played a very good defence and make plus four, of five, i don't know. And go on the half-time little bit to relax and when we back, we make some mistakes and Slovenia come back in the game.
“But, we showed character of the team and we know if we win that we have a big chance to go the semi-final. It was also a pressure for us, but I think we make a good job and take a first match ball. We have new game tomorrow. Now is only important to rest and focus to tomorrow game against Hungary.”
On the race for the semi-finals:
“Every game is a tight game, every game is like a semi-final, like a final. If you go 80 per cent you can lose. Every game, we Croatia, we go 100 per cent and fight for every ball. Because we know that every ball is important in the tournaments.”
SWITZERLAND vs ICELAND 38:38 (19:19)
Andy Schmid (SUI) — head coach
On whether the draw is a reason for celebration:
“For sure, 100 per cent, because we played an amazing game, especially in attack. We played creative. We played with really big heart.
“Every player that was playing was playing great. I know that we received too many goals — 38 is too much. But there is also days our goalkeepers are not finding in the game. If somebody would tell me in the half-time that we will have one save in the second half, then oof. I would be a bit scared of the second half. But we managed to get a point from a team who is playing for the semi-finals and that’s just great.”
On how their strategy came together, especially defensively:
“Against this unbelievable man-against-man players, we have to be compact, we have to help each other and stuff like that. You can’t manage it every time but we did it great. We had really problems with running back after our goals but in the end it’s just a great game from some young guns from Switzerland.”
Gino Steenaerts (SUI) — right wing
On the draw:
“At the end it’s a celebration for us, because we are new on this level and I think we made a really good match without 20 minutes of mistakes and no goals. I think we’re happy with that point.”
On how their strategy came together:
“Our plan was in the defence to stay compact and don’t lose the one-on-one. Help each other and let the wings maybe shoot because we didn’t want the goals from the middle, and then we wanted to make tempo. Fast breaks. And I think the biggest problem we had was that they also made fast breaks and we were too slow at running back.”
On how they managed to hold the lead, after recently conceding in the last 20 minutes:
“That’s difficult. I think everybody made the things that he had to do and the other things he didn’t do. We had our plan and we made this plan over 60 minutes, and I think that was the solution.”
Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson (ISL) – Iceland head coach
On the draw against Switzerland:
“I’m just disappointed. Needed the win, didn’t get it today.
"Didn’t play good enough to win. The defence didn’t work as usual and not as planned. We conceded 38 goals and it’s too much.”
Janus Daði Smárason (ISL) – centre back
On a draw against Switzerland:
“We are devastated we don't get two points today, that was the goal the whole time. We had plenty of chances to grab them. In the end a draw.”
On what was the key for a result.
“Switzerland played a great attack. They were good structure. We struggled finding stops to them.”
On Iceland’s attack:
“It was normal attack, it was OK. What kills us is too many technical mistakes, we were throwing the ball away and in the counterattack where we are supposed to be strong. And it was expensive in the end. It's handball.”
Photo © kolektiff images
