National handball: With absences, the “first” team for the EURO 2026 qualifiers

Reverse for her first games at EURO 2026 qualifiers counts n Men’s national handball team which started the first stage of its preparation yesterday at SEF. The representative group participates in the third group of the 2nd – and last – qualifying phase, in the context of which will host Georgia on Wednesday, November 6 (17:30, ERT3). in the closed “Tassos Kampouris” of Chalkida, while he will face on Sunday 10/11 (20:00, cosmotesport) Bosnia/Herzegovina in the city of Kazin.

Absent from the first training were Dimitris Panagiotou and Kostas Kotanidis, who are facing injury problems and are currently not at the disposal of the federal coach, Giorgos Zaravinas, as well as Savvas Savvas, who for serious personal reasons will not follow the preparation and the mission of the team. Today, Achilleas Toskas and Nikos Tzorginis will be integrated with the rest of the team, on Sunday Haris Mallios and Petros Bukovinas, while on Monday Thodoris Boscos, as he competes in the Spanish league on Sunday. The athletes selected by Giorgos Zaravina will go to Chalkida on Monday, November 4 for the second stage of the preparation.

With their statements on the OCHE website, three internationals spoke about the first matches of the national team in the qualifiers for EURO 2026. They said in detail:

– Dimitris Triantafyllidis (international left winger): “The atmosphere is the best possible that an athlete starting to enter the Men’s National Team process could have. There is a serious plan that we all need and want to follow in order to get two positive results with Georgia and Bosnia. There is a lot of appetite, a big “I want” and I believe we will show on the pitch that this national team can achieve important things”.

– Tasos Tsamouridis (international pivot): “It is a great honor to be in the National Team, the goal of every athlete is to wear the national emblem. There is certainly a thirst for the two opening matches of the EURO 2026 qualifiers. We want two victories and I believe through training, concentration and fighting spirit we will succeed.”

– Michalis Stathis (international left winger): “Participating in the Men’s National Team is a greater honor for every athlete. It was a big goal for me, a dream and I’m happy to live it. The atmosphere in the team is ideal, much better than I was told. The most experienced athletes support and embrace us younger ones.”

* The entrance of the fans to the closed stadium of Kanithos for the Greece-Georgia match is free and OHE announced today (1/11) that it will cover with buses the movement of the academies of the ESCHA clubs from Athens to Chalkida and return. At the same time, the federation emphasizes that “the support of the family of the sport in our national team is necessary and valuable” and therefore appeals “to all handball contributors to stand by our internationals”.