All favorites in Groups B and D opened their European Championship campaigns with convincing wins.
Greece outplayed Georgia, while Croatia showed no mercy to its neighboring Slovenia, 20:4, in the first round of Group B in Belgrade Arena.
A rejuvenated Italian team cruised to a 19:8 victory over Turkey in Group D, where Romania defeated Slovakia more easily than expected, 16:8.
2026 European Men’s Championships, Belgrade, Day 2
Group B
(quarters 3:0, 9:2, 3:2, 5:2)
Greece: Kakaris 4, Argyropoulos 3, Kalogeropoulos 3,Genidounias 2, Spachits 2, Skoumpakis 2, Gkiouvetsis 2, Nikolaidis 1, Pouros 1.
Georgia: Vasic 2, Shushiashvili 1, Dadvani 1, Saric 1, Pjesivac 1.
Greece arrived at the tournament as a favorite, but Georgia is not a complete underdog. Therefore, few could predict that the match would be decided in the first quarter and a half. Everything in Greece’s play worked well from the beginning. Goalkeeper Panagiotis Tzortzatos made several saves in the opening minutes, discouraging the Georgians, who began to make more mistakes.
At the other end of the pool, after a 3:0 lead in the first quarter, Greece scored five goals within the first 3 minutes and 11 seconds of the second period (including three from counterattacks), jumping to an 8:0 lead. Georgia finally got on the scoreboard when Saric converted a double man-up opportunity. However, Greece soon reached a double-digit margin as Skoumpakis converted a penalty shot to make it 11:1 in the 15th minute. Greece maintained a 10-goal difference until the end of the first half, leading 12:2.
Greece’s shot percentage in the first 16 minutes was 63% (12 goals from 19 attempts), while Georgia’s was just 13% (2 goals from 16 attempts).
Dadvani (Georgia) and Nikolaidis (Greece) Photo by Krsto Vulovic
Georgia slightly improved its efficiency in the second half. Greece didn’t play at full speed, but it streched the margin to 14.
Georgia will meet Croatia on Tuesday, while Greece will have another opportunity to improve its goal-difference in the game against Slovenia.
(quarters: 1:3, 1:5, 1:7, 1:5)
Slovenia: Kadivec 1, Canc 1, Stromajer 1, Potocnik 1.
Croatia: Butic 4, Zuvela 3, Kharkov 3, Krzic 3, Fatovic 2, Lazic 2, Vukicevic 2, Basic 1.
Croatia needed some time to break Slovenia’s resistance. The favorites had a slim 2:1 lead at the finish of the first quarter. Marko Zuvela made it 3:1 just five seconds before the first break. From the second quarter, the game took an expected course. It turned into a one-sided contest. Croatia dominated and collected the points it counted on.
Andrija Basic and Marko Bijac (Croatia) Photo by Krsto Vulovic
The Croats played practically without their experienced centre-forwards. Luka Loncar wasn’t on the roster for today’s match, while Josip Vrlic didn’t spend much time in the water.
GROUP D
(quarters 1:7, 2:4, 3:4, 2:4)
Turkiye: Kuloglu 2, Oguzcan 1, Acar 1, Alpman 1, Yutmaz 1, Kahraman 1, Duzenli 1.
Italy: Condemi 4, Di Somma 3, Dolce 2, Cassia 2, Bruni 2, Balzarini 2, Del Basso 1, Ferrero 1, Gianazza 1, Carnesecchi 1.
Italy started the tournament, as expected, with an easy win over Turkiye. Gianazza found the net in Italy’s first possession, Oguzan responded with a power-play goal, but immediately after, the “Settebello” went on a 9:0 run and jumped to 10:1. They held Turkiye scoreless for almost 15 minutes. After that, Italy slowed, allowing Turkiye to score twice in the last 35 seconds of the first half.
In the following two periods, Italy didn’t shine, but increased the margin of its win to nine.
Caner (TUR) and Carnesecchi (ITA) Photo by Krsto Vulovic
(quarters 5:3, 4:2, 2:0, 5:3)
Romania: Gheorghe 3, Georgescu 3, Luncan 3, Oanta 2, Neamtu 2, Lutescu 1, Fulea 1, Vancsik 1.
Slovakia: Seman 2, Marek Tkac 2, Caraj 1, Durik 1, Bielik 1, Caraj 1, Balaz
Many believed that the encounter between Romania and Slovakia would be quite interesting, especially given that Romania narrowly defeated Slovakia in a low-scoring thriller at the 2024 Europeans (8:7).
However, Romania achieved a convincing victory in Belgrade. Slovakia scored the first goal, but Romania quickly responded with three, taking the lead and holding it for the remainder of the match. Romania’s center-forwards, Gheorghe and Vancsik, posed significant challenges for the Slovakian defense, and Romania frequently scored from close-range shots.
By the middle of the second quarter, Romania had established a 4-goal lead (7:3). Slovakia struggled to keep pace with the Romanians, who played disciplined in defense, so Slovakia didn’t couldn’t make many good scoring chances.. The discrepancy in shots was telling: Romania had 32 attempts, while Slovakia had only 22.
Darian Luncan (Romania) Photo by Krsto Vulovic
Slovakia narrowed the deficit to 5:8 in the 14th minute, but Romania tightened its defense and launched a 4:0 run, extending its lead to 13:5 by the 26th minute and securing three points.
Day 3 (January 12)
On Day 3, two derbies are scheduled. The Olympic champion Serbia will face Spain, the titleholder of all other major competitions, in the final match of the day. Serbia struggled in their previous match on Saturday, barely avoiding a loss to the Netherlands. In contrast, Spain had an easy win against Israel, which felt more like a “training session.” Additionally, a young Montenegrin team will take on Hungary in Group A.
Group A (Round 2): Malta – France (12:45), Hungary – Montenegro (15:15)
Group C (Round 2): Netherlands– Israel (18:00), Spain – Serbia (20:30)
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