There were home victories all over at the premiere night of European qualifiers. Serbia managed two points versus Latvia comfortably but both Greece and Montenegro were pushed all the way and Spain caught up with Italy very late in the game.
A match hero like Marco Mengon or Mikael Helmersson playing away in Valencia would have been a major clash with the handball hierarchy. Italy almost succeeded but Jordi Ribera team overturned the threatening loss in the final minutes. Ian Tarrafeta and Kauldi Odriozola decided the game with 31–30 for Spain.
Nikolaos Passias allowed Greece to open the point account against Georgia while Montenegro remained one ahead after a fruitless last attack from Finland.
Faroe Islands success route passed Kosovo with the margin of eleven goals and the prospering star Oli Mittun (nine goals) joined in with established Bundesliga players Elias Ellefsen a Skipagøtu Hakun West Av Teigum for a forceful performance.
Iceland sprinted away from Bosnia and Herzegovina but it took the home team more than 50 minutes to create a major gap. Serbia har broad quality in the offensive options and Dragan Pechmalbec handled the line shots perfectly with nine goals against a less convincing Latvia, 38–25 in the end.
Euro 2026 Qualifiers
Group 1, North Macedonia–Estonia 37–33 (20–20)
Group 2, Hungary–Slovakia 37–32 (15–12)
Montenegro–Finland 29–28 (16–15)
Group 3, Iceland–Bosnia and Hercegovina 32–26 (12–12)
Greece–Georgia 27–26 (12–13)
Group 4, Serbia–Latvia 38–25 (16–10)
Spain–Italy 31–30 (15–17)
Group 5, Czechia–Luxembourg 23–17 (12–10)
Group 6, Faroe Islands–Kosovo 32–21 (13–9)