Handball men can buy the EM ticket in Linz on Saturday

Austria handball-Men have taken a big step towards the European Championship: The team of head coach Ales Pajovic clearly won the European Championship qualifier in Coburg against the Ukraine 38:31 (18:13). The ÖHB team extended the lead in group four after three rounds to four points and can already book the EM ticket on Saturday (8.25 p.m. / live ORF Sport +) with a win in the return game against the Eastern Europeans in SMS Kleinmünchen.

At the beginning of the game there was a minute’s silence for the victims of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and for those of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. After that, Mykola Bilyk and Co. went to work in a concentrated manner and showed their experience and quality. After trailing 4-2 in the early stages, the red-white-red squad turned up the heat against the young Ukrainians, who play their home games abroad because of the war at home, and pulled away 14-9. Even at the break, the lead was five goals.

In the second half, the Austrians, who were satisfied with a solid performance, didn’t miss a beat and increased their lead to plus ten goals in places. In the closing stages, Pajovic gave some regular players a break. The top scorers on the guest side were Tobias Wagner with eight goals and Boris Zivkovic with seven goals. Bilyk, for whom it was a very special game given his Ukrainian roots, netted six times. Andrii Akimenko scored ten times for Ukraine.

Four points clear in Group 4

The ÖHB men thus recorded the third success in the third game of the European Championship qualifier. Previously they had already won 36:32 against Romania and 30:28 in the Faroe Islands. The Faroese defeated the Romanians 28:26 (15:9) in Torshavn on Wednesday, giving Austria a four-point cushion over all three group opponents with six points. The European Championship finals in January 2024 in Germany are therefore within reach.