Big wins for Germany and France on first day of Men's 18 EHF EURO

France and Germany have started the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2016 in Croatia in convincing fashion as they recorded the two biggest wins at the championship's start on Thursday.

France beat Switzerland 42:26 (21:11) in Group A, while Germany put 15 goals between themselves and Portugal when they won 34:19 (19:7) in Group C.

On the other hand, also in Group C, 13 goals by Poland's Patryk Mauer were not enough to prevent his side's 34:31 loss against Serbia. In the second game in Group A, Spain beat Norway 30:24.

Slovenia and Denmark were the two teams starting victorious in Group B, with Slovenia beating Slovakia 30:17 and Denmark winning 28:21 against Russia.

In Group C, tournament hosts Croatia left the starting blocks successfully with a 34:29 win againts Iceland, while Sweden beat Czech Republic 28:23.

Do-or-die matches on Friday

The Men's 18 EHF EURO 2016 already continues on Friday with all 16 teams in action again. All games are streamed live on the Croatian federation's Youtube channel.

In Group A, Switzerland face Spain and Norway play France. In Group B, Russia are up against Slovenia and Slovakia meet Denmark.

In Group C, Croatia play against Czech Republic and Sweden face Iceland. In Group D Germany meet Poland and Portugal oppose Serbia.

Given the situation that in all eight of Friday's encounters there is one victorious team meeting one that lost on Thursday, all spots to the main round could already be decided today.

The first two teams of each group qualify for the main round with a chance to reach the semi-finals; the teams ranked third and fourth in each group will play the intermediate round and eventually the placement matches for ranks 9 to 16.

The preliminary round is played on 11, 12 and 14 August. Matchdays for the main round are 16 and 17 August. The semi-finals are played on 19 August, the final will take place on 21 August.

In the preliminary round matches throw off at 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00 hrs local time for Groups A and B in Zagreb. Groups C and D play at 13:30, 15:30, 17:30 and 19:30 hrs local time in Koprivnica.

For more information also see the event's official website.

In the history of Men's 18 EHF EURO events since 1992, Croatia and Germany are the two most successful nations. They both have won two gold and one silver medal.

In this ranking Spain are third with one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

At the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2014 in Poland, France came first ahead of Hungary and Spain.