Israel became the only away team to capture a point in the first qualification round. Portugal provided plenty of pivot action and controlled Romania with 37-30, Netherlands and Ukraine focused forward until 40–39.
Germany and Slovenia was off to solid starts in the qualification race, Slovenia beat Lithuania 36–25 and Germany cut off Switzerland with a slightly lower margin, 35–26.
Netherlands and Ukraine had a very tight encounter, one up for the guests at half-time switched to orange advantage with Dani Baijens scoring eight times including the all so important 40–38 with 15 seconds left on the clock.
Portugal was four goals behind Romania at the break but the splendid comeback had 25 goals more to come and Luis Frade in the center with a total of eleven pivot goals. Portugal caught up in minute 41 and had an unthreatened lead with five minutes to go.
The next round of games for the 32 teams is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Top two in each group plus the four best third-placed teams will advance to Euro 2026.
Euro 2026 qualifiers
Group 1, Slovenia–Lithuania 36–25 (17–15)
Group 5, Croatia–Belgium 30–23 (16–12)
Group 6, Netherlands–Ukraine 40–39 (19–20)
Group 7, Austria–Turkey 31–28 (17–13)
Germany–Switzerland 35–26 (21–13)
Group 8, Poland–Israel 32–32 (12–16)
Portugal–Romania 37–30 (12–16)