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EFE
Updated
The Spanish men’s team will start this Wednesday against Italy the road to the European Championship for Denmark, Sweden and Norway in 2026 and will do it in Port of Sagunto pavilion (9:00 p.m.), which will be the first major sporting event to be held in the province of Valencia after the dramatic DANA a week ago.
The clash, initially planned in Castelló, It will be used to collect donations of food and materials for the thousands of affected people. due to floods that have claimed at least 211 lives. Besides, The proceeds will be allocated entirely to the victims and the Spanish Federationwhich also will donate clothes, has launched a ‘row zero’ to complete that contribution.
Italy will be Spain’s first rivalwhich comes from achieving the Olympic bronze in Paris 2024 and with a list full of news in which the international debut of Víctor Romero (Granollers) and Carlos Álvarez (Ademar). The pivot of the Catalan team has been summoned after being one of the key pieces of the ‘Hispanos Junior’ in recent years, in which he has achieved gold in the European U18, World U19 and the European U20 2024, while the far right of the Leonese team has confirmed its projection with the 198 goals that he achieved last season in the Asobal Leaguesomething that earned him to be chosen ‘MVP’.
Spain is framed in the group 4 with Serbia, Italy and Latviaof which is the great favorite. His great international record with two gold medals, five silver medals and two European bronze medals; two championships and three world bronzes; and five Olympic bronzes, eclipses that of the Serbian team, which has a silver in the 2012 European Championship, while the Italian or Latvian team lacks international titles. In this qualifying phase there are eight groups of four teams who will compete in six rounds. The two first teams in each group and the four best third parties classified will achieve the European ticket.
The selector Jordi Ribera He is aware that the group has many new features and very little training time after there are players who played this Sunday and joined the training camp late. “It is always preferable to have three or four days of training, especially when you have such a new team and with players who are going to have their first opportunity”the coach said days ago, although he added that we must give them “the maximum support so that they can do well, because we know the responsibility of putting on the national team shirt.”
Regarding the rival, he recalled that Italy has recently qualified for the World Cup after having eliminated Montenegro and it is a team with players who “have been playing together for a long time, which makes them play by heart with each other.” The Spanish team arrived in Sagunto this Monday, where he exercised for the first time in the pavilion of the Valencian municipality, which will be full to receive the ‘Hispanics’, who They haven’t played there since 1985.
