Co-favorite Spain was already eliminated from the European Handball Championship in the preliminary round. Against surprise team Austria, the former European champion couldn’t get past a 33:33 (15:17) score and only finished third in Group B in Mannheim. Austria follows former world champion Croatia into the German main round group in Cologne, the Croatians defeated Romania 31:25 (16:12) earlier in the evening.
“That was incredible. We believed in it. We showed the whole world: Austria is alive,” said Robert Weber. “We’re going to Kölle, who would have thought that. It’s unbelievable, I have to process it first.”
Eight seconds before the end, Janko Bozovic scored the decisive goal to equalize. Spain took another timeout, but could no longer counter. After the final siren, the Austrians’ celebration of Bundesliga star Nikola Bilyk knew no bounds.
The German team’s first opponent is Iceland on Thursday. The eternal secret favorite lost their final preliminary round game in Group C in Munich against Hungary 25:33 (13:15), but progress was already certain before the game thanks to Serbia’s defeat against previously pointless Montenegro (29:30). Hungary comes to Cologne as the only team with three wins from three games.
Switzerland, on the other hand, has to go home. The team around superstar Andy Schmid lost in Berlin against North Macedonia 27:29 (9:13). Former Bundesliga star Schmid excelled with twelve goals and was named the best player of the game in his last international match.
“Well, I cried for three thirty minutes out of the last five minutes. That’s why sadness is probably a slight understatement,” said the 40-year-old emotionally after the game. From summer onwards, Schmid will succeed Swiss national coach Michael Suter.