Serbia eye main round after Germany triumph

Serbia opened the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 with defeat by Spain (27:29), playing too slowly and too nervously in the first half. However, on Saturday against Germany, they showed what they are capable of — coming back from a 13:17 half-time deficit to win the second half 16:10 and the match 30:27.

Now, with two points on their account like Germany, they are two points below Spain and two points ahead of their final opponents Austria. If they win, they are through; in the case of a draw or defeat, they need to wait for the result of the final match between Spain and Germany.

“We have everything in our hands. But we need to beat Austria — and I am sure that this match will be decided only in the last two, three minutes,” says goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev, who saved 12 shots against Germany to become one of the cornerstones of the victory.

The Füchse Berlin goalkeeper was quite satisfied with his performance.

“In the first half, I could help my team that Germany did not pull ahead by six or seven goals. After the break, my defence was amazing and helped me lot. I could have saved one penalty or one, two open shots more. I was satisfied, but more with the victory than looking on my performance,” adds Milosavljev.

His club and national teammate Mijajlo Marsenić, Serbia’s defence boss, was even happier.

“It was an outstanding match. When you win a game like that, it’s much easier to fall asleep than after a defeat, and you simply feel better. We believed in ourselves more than against Spain, and that was decisive. We played really well right to the end and stayed cool. In the second half, we played one of the best halves of my national team career,” the line player says.

The match was on the edge after Serbia levelled the result at 21:21 and even pulled ahead to 23:21, before Germany struck back. In the last minutes, Serbia’s defence stood like a wall and their attack scored with high efficiency and precision to secure the first victory ever in an official match against Germany.

But Marsenić warns against being too euphoric, saying: “We haven’t achieved anything yet. We’ve taken one step closer to our goal, the main round — nothing more. Now we have to win our final against Austria.”

One crucial factor for the new Serbian all-time number 1 in terms of EHF EURO matches was to calm down the thousands of German fans in crunch time.

“When I came onto the court and saw all the German fans, I thought we were playing in Berlin or Magdeburg. It was amazing to see how many fans were there. It always motivates me even more when there are lots of spectators in the arena — especially when 99.9 per cent of them are against me. I love that. In the end, they were a bit quieter.”

But like Marsenić, Milosavljev is aware that the final challenge against Austria will be anything but easy.

“We are not the favourites against Austria, because those matches are always the most dangerous ones. We have a final, we want to progress, and we’ll have to play even better than against Germany, because Austria are a really good team with a lot of quality,” he says.

“To go ahead would be a huge step for us. In the main round, we would face the medal contenders Denmark and France. In matches like this, we grow as a team and gain important experience,” Milosavljev adds.

Marsenić also warns that their next opponents are tricky to play.

“I do not care if some say we are the favourites against Austria because we beat Germany. The Austrian team clearly improved in the last years and showed a brilliant EURO tournament two years ago. Therefore, in my opinion, there are more favourites than us. They have a great roster and are really dangerous,” he says.

The statistics also speak against the Serbs: in three meetings, Austria won twice and tied once, although the last official match dates back to 2013. Austria also have a better recent EHF EURO record, reaching the main round and finishing eighth in both 2020 and 2024.

But if Serbia can bring the same fight to the Jyske Bank Boxen on Monday as they did against Germany, all bets are off.

Photos © kolektiff images