Live blog: Romania lead key clash vs Portugal; Georgia qualify
Following an action-packed opening day of round 5 on Wednesday, nine more games in the Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers are on the schedule for Thursday.
Minute-by-minute coverage of the Men's EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers.
14:57
Throw-off on day two of round 5 is just moments away! Tune in now on EHFTV or follow the live stats here:
14:49
We could hardly be starting with two more promising clashes, as both the reverse legs between the four teams first on court were as close as could be.
When Georgia hosted Greece in round 1, Greece won 27:26. That was both the only win for Greece so far in the qualifiers and one of Georgia's two losses. Georgia have never beaten Greece in an official match.
The round 1 encounter between Poland and Israel saw a 32:32 draw, with Israel leading at half-time. Israel have beaten Poland only once in seven previous games, and that result was also close, at 25:24 in the EHF EURO 2018 Qualifiers.
14:39
While we wait for throw-off, let's look briefly ahead to the round 5 Highlight Match: Italy vs Spain, which will be streamed on EHFTV with English commentary and begins at 19:00 CEST. Either team could qualify for the final tournament tonight, although Italy rely on Serbia's result against Latvia as well.
Italy are in a position they have never been before — coming into the last two rounds as group leaders with only one loss behind them. That loss was by the narrowest of margins: 31:30 against Spain in round 1. The performance in round 1 set the tone for what has been a great campaign for Italy — one that could end with them qualifying for the EURO for the first time. Italy have played it once before, in 1998, but they were directly qualified as hosts.
We caught up with Italy wing Leo Prantner, who will also feature at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 with Füchse Berlin in June. Now, he hopes to secure a place at the EHF EURO 2026.
Read the feature below!
My father played, for example, the last European Championship with Italy. He also played the last World Championship with Italy, but after this, Italy didn't play any World Championship or any European Championship, so I think it would be the same situation like now with the World Championship. And it really would mean a lot for us — a lot, a lot, a lot.
