Co-hosts North Macedonia face Olympic champions in fiery debut

France vs North Macedonia

Saturday, 5 November, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• North Macedonia, the co-hosts for the EHF EURO 2022, will return in the competition for the first time since 2012, when they finished last in the standings, on the 16^th place
• the current Olympic champions have started the EHF EURO with four wins in the last five tournaments, including a 29:16 win against North Macedonia in the first match of the EHF EURO 2012
• both sides will miss crucial players: North Macedonia cannot rely on Elena Gjorgjievska, their most experienced player who featured at the EHF EURO 2008, while France miss goalkeeper Laura Glauser and centre back Meline Nocandy
• the co-hosts have lost all their last six matches played, including friendlies, with their last competitive win coming in March 2021, 20:19 against Greece, in the Qualification Europe Part 1 of the 2021 World Championship
• North Macedonia have won only one time in eight games against France, 30:27 in Skopje, in the EHF EURO 2012 Qualifiers in the same venue as Saturday’s game, the A1 Arena SC Boris Trajkovski

Olivier Krumbholz, coach France: "The team always like to win medals, so this will be an exciting tournament for us. We have some injuries and North Macedonia are quite an unknown team for us, but we will try and start the competition with a win, setting us up well for the next matches."

Ljubomir Savevski coach North Macedonia:  “This France side is the best-ever that they assembled. They have so much quality, they are Olympic champions, so it will definitely be a challenge for us. We are underdogs, but I hope they will not have such a good game against us. It is a challenge, we have a very young squad, with inexperienced players, so they are clearly favourites, but this is why handball is beautiful, because it is unpredictable.”

Netherlands vs Romania

Saturday, 5 November, 20:30 CET, live on EHFTV

• both coaches will make their official debuts in a final tournament, as Per Johansson took over the Dutch side in January 2022, while Florentin Pera was named as Romania’s coach in September 2022
• Romania’s star, Cristina Neagu, needs only 36 goals to become the first-ever player in both the men’s and the women’s EHF EURO to hit the 300-goal mark
• the Romanian side face a race against the clock to have several players ready, as backs Laura Pristavita and Eliza Buceschi, line player Lorena Ostase, goalkeeper Diana Ciuca and left wing Alexandra Dindiligan are all nursing injuries
• the Dutch side will have to make do without the 2019 World Championship top scorer Lois Abbingh and goalkeeper Tess Wester, two crucial members of the squad in the past years
• Romania and the Netherlands have met 11 times, with the two teams sharing five wins, as one game ended in a draw, but the Netherlands are riding a four-game winning streak, with Romania last winning a match in 2004

Ricardo Clarijs, Netherlands assistant coach: "We had a very good preparation period, but a loss against Romania in the first match would set us back a lot. Our style does not bode well against Romania, they always manage to put us under pressure. So it is vital to win and gain that confidence."

Cristina Neagu, Romania left back: "It is my eighth EHF EURO edition and I will always enjoy playing in this type of tournaments. Our team is very young, many players changed, but we want to do well and start the competition with a win against the Netherlands."