No dream start for the host on opening day

There was to be no surprise win for home side Poland in their Men's 18 EHF EURO opener, as Germany made their intentions to follow in the footsteps of their gold medal winning under-20 team by beating their hosts with a commanding performance in Group D's first encounter.

The German victory never looked in doubt after a 17:11 half-time lead and with 11 different scorers they went on to take a 31:22 win. Elsewhere in the group, Belarus got the better of Czech Republic in a much closer affair, coming out on top by 30:27.

First up on Thursday was the meeting of Spain and Denmark in Group B. The Spaniards surprisingly sprung out to a six-goal lead at the break and although the Danes fought to close the gap, their efforts were in vain as Spain got off the perfect start with a 27:25 win to top the group ahead of Russia, who had to come from behind to snatch a 31:30 victory over FYR Macedonia.

Group A also saw two fiercely contested matches, the first of which between Sweden and Switzerland was dead level at half-time. However, driven on by eight goals from top performer Lukas Nilsson, the Swedes proved to be just too much and ran away with the two points, 29:25. 

The following battle between Serbia and Iceland was no less fierce. Serbia took a 14:13 lead at half time thanks to the brilliant goalkeeping of Dejan Milosavljev, but not even he could prevent Iceland from powering to a 29:24 win in a one-sided second half.

Group C saw the two largest victories of the day, with France and Hungary blowing their opponents out of the water. France never looked in danger n their impressive 43:24 win over Romania, in which every single court player got on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, Hungary did all of the damage against neighbours Croatia in the first half, as they took a confidence boosting 36:23 win. The two winners meet today (Friday) to practically decide which side will win the group.

Live steaming and tournament information

The Men’s 18 EHF EURO takes place in the Polish cities of Gdynia and Gdansk from 14 to 24 August 2014. All matches will be streamed live on the official website. Further information can be found on the site and the event's Facebook page.

During the tournament eurohandball.com and the EHF EURO Facebook page will also feature regular reports, features and photo galleries.

Austria hosted the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2012. Back then Germany won, Sweden came second and Denmark placed third.