EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers: Iceland and Croatia dominate as favourites make flying start
The EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers got underway on Wednesday with eight matches, as the opening day was highlighted by convincing victories for the favourites and plenty of goals across Europe.
Iceland delivered the highest-scoring performance of the day, netting 48 goals against Ukraine (48:26), while Croatia also impressed with a dominant victory over Lithuania (46:28). North Macedonia comfortably defeated Luxembourg (41:23), while Slovenia claimed a convincing win against Bosnia and Herzegovina (38:28).
The closest encounter took place in Czechia, where the hosts edged Israel 27:26. Among the individual performances, Austria’s Sebastian Frimmel stood out with 11 goals, while Croatia’s Ivan Martinović and Israel’s Yoav Lumbroso scored 10 goals each.
The remaining eight matches of the opening round are scheduled for Thursday, November 5.
Croatia – Lithuania 46:28 (23:11)
Ivan Martinović 10, Marin Šipić 7, Filip Glavaš 7 – Arturas Budraitis 6.
Austria – Türkiye 37:30 (19:15)
Sebastian Frimmel 11 – Baran Nalbantoğlu 5.
Iceland – Ukraine 48:26 (23:9)
Bjarki Már Elísson 6, Ómar Ingi Magnússon 6, Orri Freyr Þorkelsson 6 – Dmytro Artemenko 8.
Faroe Islands – Kosovo 37:30 (20:13)
Óli Mittún 8, Hákun av Teigum 7, Mortensen 6 – Bujar Ramosaj 6.
Czechia – Israel 27:26 (15:10)
Tomáš Piroch 9 – Yoav Lumbroso 10.
Slovenia – Bosnia and Herzegovina 38:28 (22:11)
Aleks Vlah 6, Tadej Mazej 5 – Amer Šahinović 6, Danijel Stijović 6.
Poland – Latvia 33:24 (21:11)
Filip Michałowicz 8 – Leonards Valkovskis 7, Jānis Pāvils Valkovskis 7.
North Macedonia – Luxembourg 41:23 (20:10)
Nikola Kosteski 6, Aleksandar Petkovski 5, Martin Serafimov 5 – Vincent Kraizelmaier 8.
