Flurry of friendlies around the world as teams gear up their preparations
13 Jan. 2026
With four continental championships scheduled for January in Africa, Asia, Europe and South and Central America, the participating teams are on the final straight in their preparations, with a flurry of friendly matches being scheduled over the last week throughout the world.
Reigning world champions Denmark featured in a four-team friendly tournament in the Netherlands, alongside Greece and Norway, with each team featuring twice.
Denmark were the only team to win both matches, providing dominating outings, despite some changes in their squad, with a 34:26 win over Norway and a 38:24 win against Greece, before they host the EHF EURO 2026 in Herning.
Norway bounced back with a 33:30 win over the Netherlands in the last day of friendly matches, as back Tobias Grøndahl scored 10 goals. Denmark and Norway, co-hosts at the EHF EURO 2026, which starts on 15 January, with 24 teams ready to pounce, will eye a medal.
Portugal reign supreme in Torneo Internacional de Espana
The city of Pamplona hosted the Torneo Internacional de España 2026, which saw six teams from three continents battle it out, divided into two groups of three teams each, with the winners of each group progressing to the big final.
Title favourites at the 2026 CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship, Egypt faced Portugal in their maiden match and with Xavi Pascual making his debut on the bench against tough competition it made for a great battle, with the two teams entering a deadlock, 31:31.
It was Portugal which made the final, thanks to a 41:20 win against the Islamic Republic of Iran, while Egypt managing only a 19-goal win, 43:24. And in the final, Portugal met familiar foes Spain, which had previously took a 43:26 win over Slovakia and a 37:28 win over Tunisia.
With backs Martim Costa and Salvador Salvador combining for 13 goals, Portugal were better than Spain, providing a fantastic comeback in the dying minutes of the match, outscoring their opponents 9:3 in the last 11 minutes, to clinch the first place, with a 34:31 win.
Egypt finished third, with a 39:30 win over Slovakia, while Tunisia edged out the Islamic Republic of Iran with a 26:24 win to end up on the fifth position.
“The comeback was the best part of the game. What I take away from this game is that without a time-out we managed to recover from a six-goal deficit, which means a lot to me. Spain really wanted to win this game, which is logical; if we were playing in Portugal we would also very much like to win, because we would be playing at home. The most important thing about this game was our ability not to lose our composure. The start of the game wasn't good for us. What I take away from this game is our ability to recover from a six-goal deficit and remain intact at this stage of the game; it was also the stage of the game in which we best followed the game plan,” said Portugal’s coach, Paulo Pereira, according to the official website of the Portuguese Handball Federation.
France win on home court
Four teams also took part in the Tournoi de France, which took place on 9 and 11 January in French capital Paris, in the La Defense Arena, with Iceland, Slovenia, hosts France and Austria each playing two matches.
Iceland, which are increasingly looking better and better, took a 32:26 win over a depleted Slovenia in their first match, while France delivered a 34:29 win over Iker Romero’s Austria.
In the final, played in front of 13,774 spectators, France took a 31:29 win over Iceland, after the Nordic side had a 16:14 lead at the break. Aymeric Minne scored eight goals for France, while Odinn Rikhardsson and Omar Ingi Magnusson had five goals each for Iceland. In the other match of the day, Slovenia took a 36:31 win over Austria.
Earlier, Slovenia took a 36:23 win over Kuwait, the hosts of the 2026 AHF Asian Men’s Handball Championship, which have been preparing in Europe before the start of the competition which throws off on 15 January.
“We had a good preparation, with two interesting matches. Today's match forced us to dig deep and find resources we might need during the EURO. I'm delighted with the team spirit and our progress. We accomplished a lot of interesting things in the time we had, and I saw a lot of positive aspects. We're arriving in a good frame of mind, with players who are very eager to improve and who have demonstrated the necessary cohesion,” said France’s coach, Guillaume Gille, after the match, according to the website of the French Handball Federation.
Germany dominate World Championship runners-up
Perennial contenders Germany have also ramped up their preparation, against the runners-up of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, Croatia, with one match played in the Arena Zagreb and the other one played in Hanover. Both were comprehensively won by Germany. In the first one in Zagreb, Germany took a 32:29 win, while the second one saw the hosts of the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship take a 33:27 win.
“I think we made good use of the training camp and the test matches right from the start. My feeling is that the team is in really good shape compared to previous years. From the very first training session, things looked good in terms of both physical and mental freshness,” said Germany captain, Johannes Golla, to handball.net.
The Faroe Islands are once again going at it and have played two friendly matches against Italy, losing one, 34:36, and winning one, 38:34. Italy have also beat Romania, 35:34, as all three teams are gearing up their preparations for the EHF EURO 2026.
Poland and Serbia also met twice, with very close matches in Poland, one ending in a 32:32 stalemate, while the other saw Poland take a narrow 33:32 win.
Sweden also won twice against Brazil, 33:24 and 34:27, with the latter side preparing for the 2026 South and Central America Men’s Championship, which will take place in Paraguay, between 19 and 24 January.
Meanwhile, Switzerland won the Yellow Cup, the traditional competition in Winterthur, with the hosts taking wins against Bahrain (33:30) and Ukraine (38:27) before drawing with North Macedonia (29:29).
The two European sides ended with the same number of points, but Kiril Lazarov’s side took a 31:26 win against Ukraine and a 32:28 win over Bahrain, to finish with a lower goal difference (+9) than Switzerland (+14).
Photo credit: Jozo Cabraja / kolektiff / HRS