HERNING – Comments from players and coaches at the Men's EHF EURO 2026 semi-final press conferences on Thursday.

GERMANY vs CROATIA

Alfred Gislason (ISL) – Germany head coach

On the match:

“In the beginning of this year, we played twice against them. They were training matches, so they don't count. Before that, Germany lost the last three (matches), at least.

“We know it's a very difficult game. The main thing we have to do tomorrow is to keep our line, which we have had most of this tournament. We have to keep up the same pace, the same defence, the same goalkeeping.

“I hope we are playing like yesterday, with the same defence, the same pressure in attack. If we manage to cause only three technical mistakes like yesterday, we have a chance. This was a huge difference compared to our match against Denmark.”

On Croatia:

“Croatia are a strong team and they have more experience than us. They want to imprint the match like we want to. We will be ready for this match and focus on our game.”

On Tom Kiesler:

“There is nothing new about Tom Kiesler. He is still sick.”

On being one of three Icelandic coaches in the semi-finals:

“It is hard to say. Handball has a long tradition in Iceland, though we did not win that much medals as others like Croatia. Handball is national sport in Iceland, we have incredibly good training infrastructure, mainly for youngsters. We have good coaches, so we have a lot of talent, considering the size of Iceland. And this continues with the coaches.”

Miro Schluroff (GER) – left back

On the tournament so far:

“We have a very good spirit in the team. During the whole tournament we had a lot of fun, we had a good mix of fun and focus on the games, focus on the enemies, and that brought us to the semi-finals.

“With the win yesterday, with a good game against France, we showed that we can do it as we had a good game against Denmark also. But we know we have a very important and tough game against Croatia. It will be a hard fight, I think. And the focus needs to be on this game.”

Dagur Sigurdsson (ISL) – Croatia head coach

On steering Germany to the EHF EURO trophy in 2016:

“It always something special to be in the semi-final. This is a great moment for us. We try to give our best. But of course sometimes you look back, and now it is 10 years since we won the EURO, and still three of the players are here. We are still in contact with the old team.”

On the strengths of both sides:

“Germany defend well, we do the same. We will see tough defences on both sides.”

Josip Šimić (CRO) – line player

On the strengths of his team:

“I think the defence, and that we are playing with our hearts. So I think this will tomorrow be also very important. The circumstances are not the best, but we will give everything. And we will play like yesterday, with our hearts. And then I think we will win this match.”

DENMARK vs ICELAND

Nikolaj Jacobsen (DEN) – Denmark head coach

On how he sees the semi-final against Iceland:

“The excitement for me is very present, as a handball coach and lover. Iceland and Denmark are two of the best playing teams in the world. I love the way they play, I love the players, I love to watch that, and I also love to watch my team play. Tomorrow night can only be an amazing experience for the fans with two of the best teams.”

On what he particularly likes about how Iceland play:

“I think this is the kind of game I would have liked to play. It’s a little bit different from the other teams. I love this quick play, with a lot of two versus two situations. Ómar Ingi (Magnússon) is one of the best players in the world in this kind of situations, that’s how he plays in Magdeburg and he does it really good. Gísli (Kristjánsson) is also a really dominant player.

“It’s nice to watch. I love this technical game, they use their heads perfectly on the court and this is how handball should be played.”

Mads Mensah (DEN) – centre back

On the support from the Danish fans in the Jyske Bank Boxen:

“It means a lot for us, we are going to need it tomorrow. Iceland are a very dangerous opponent, and I hope the fans will step it up a level. We also need to go another level if we want to beat Iceland. I’m sure we can do it, but this will not be an easy task.”

Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson (ISL) – Iceland head coach

On the recipe to beat Denmark:

“I also love to watch Denmark play, they play really good. We are still making our plan for tomorrow, if it was ready we would not say what it is anyway.

“They are the best team in the world, they are playing at home, we expect a very difficult game. For the past few years and also in this tournament, we have been going in the right direction.

“We have been playing good throughout the tournament. We believe in ourselves, that’s for sure, we will fight, there no questions about that. We will need a top performance to beat Denmark.”

Ómar Ingi Magnússon (ISL) – right back

On the Bundesliga players and how their experience can help on the court:

“As Snorri (Steinn Guðjónsson) said, they are a pretty good team, we will have bring our best performance to qualify. I don’t think the club experience will be a huge factor, maybe a little bit. They have dominated the game for several years now. We will have to find some solutions, but it will be difficult task.”

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