Back in January, Slovakia men’s national team was brimming with confidence, after hosting the EHF EURO 2022. Sure, they did not make it past the preliminary round, yet the simple fact of playing at home in such a competition was a huge morale boost for them.

Two months later, Slovakia were eliminated from the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship qualification play-offs, conceding an unexpected 57:54 loss against Belgium, who made it for the first time to a major final tournament.

This prompted the replacement of coach Peter Kukucka with Fernando Gurich Mina, the technical director of the Slovak Handball Federation and the head coach for the men’s youth team.