The Croatian national handball team will meet Georgia at 18:00 to open their performances at the 17th European Championship, which is being held in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
European champion title defended by France which beat Denmark 33:31 (27:27) in the dramatic final two years ago in Koln after extra time.
Dagur Sigurdsson’s team will play their group games in the Arena in Malmö, and in addition to Georgia, they will also play against the Netherlands and the host, Sweden, in the group, writes HRT.
As for Georgia, they are unknown to the wider Croatian audiencebut two players are connected to our handball.
One is a doorman Gigi Rukhadze (21 years, 185 cm, RK Bjelovar). He has been in Croatia since the summer of 2024.
The second is the right outer Zagreb Gigi or Giorgi Tskhoverbadze (24 years, 194 cm, RK Zagreb).
With 43 goals, he was the most efficient Georgian in the qualifiers.
Through the qualifications for the 17th European Championship, the Georgians achieved three victories and experienced three defeats and reached Denmark, Norway and Sweden as the second-placed team.
Croatia, France and Spain are the only participants in all EPs
They were defeated twice by Iceland, once by Greece with a goal difference (27:26).
They recorded two victories against BiH and another one that was crucial, against Greece at home (29:26).
Croatia is next to France and Spain the only one in history that was a participant in all previous European championships.
All the other greats missed a championship or two. Sweden, the record holder for the number of titles, with as many as five gold medals, was not in Switzerland in 2006, for example.
Denmark missed the competition in 1998, Germany in 2014, etc…
So, Croatia is the favorite tonight, but must be extremely careful in the opening game in order to start this competition in the best possible way.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: HRS)
