Men's competition
Five teams — Spain, Italy, Türkiye, Poland and France — took the last chance to secure a ticket to the main round by winning the deciding matches, and joined Denmark, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Hungary and Norway who had already booked their place in the next stage.
The hosts were delighted when Türkiye defeated Czechia 2:1 in the shootout (19:14, 20:28, 9:6), pushing the Czechs into the consolation round. Italy also had to put in a lot of effort to overcome Ukraine in an even crazier shootout, before celebrating 2:1 victory (27:22, 20:22, 13:12). Meanwhile, Poland knocked out Malta in two sets, and Spain and France confirmed their strong positions in group C, leaving Bulgaria behind.
Two of the favourites, Croatia and Denmark delivered some magic when they met in the last match of the preliminary round. The game, which featured star-studded teams, was decided by a golden goal in both sets. Croatia simply failed to deliver in the crucial moments and were beaten 2:0 (21:20, 25:24) by the Danes.
Main round:
- Denmark, the 2019 and 2021 European champions, and 2023 silver medallists Germany finished the day as the only unbeaten teams
- In their first main round game, Denmark staged a comeback to defeat another favourites, Portugal, while Germany took the lead in group I, after outsmarting Poland
- The defending champions Hungary stumbled at the last hurdle of the day as France kept their cool and overturned the result, winning the match in a shootout; Horace Quintin emerged as their most noteworthy player, amassing 16 points
- Group II turned out to be full of surprises; Hungary, Spain and France are in the lead with four points, followed by Sweden, Norway and Italy with two
- With an impressive 60 points, Hungary's Norbert Gyene is the current competition's top scorer