Latvia's handball team opens Euro qualifying with an away game in Poland

Latvia's men's national handball team begins qualifying for the 2028 European Championship on Wednesday, 4 November, with an away match against Poland in the Polish city of Opole. The game starts at 19:00 Latvian time. The qualifying tournament is the route to the European Championship finals.

The Polish squad

Poland is coached by Spanish specialist Jesús González Fernández, who twice earned the title of best coach of the season in Spain's ASOBAL league. He has named 18 players for the November games. The team is in the middle of a generational change: younger players who have already proved themselves in Polish and other European leagues are taking on bigger roles alongside experienced internationals.

The squad includes several players of European standing, among them right wing Mihail Daszek (Wisła Płock), playmaker Michał Olejniczak (Industria Kielce), pivot Maciej Gembala (HC Erlangen, Germany), his brother Tomasz Gembala (PGE Wybrzeze Gdansk) and goalkeeper Marcel Jastrzębski (RK Nexe, Croatia). Dawid Dawydzik, Mikołaj Czapliński, Piotr Jarosiewicz and Piotr Mielczarski (Limoges, France) are also included.

Injuries rule out pivot Kamil Syprzak (Paris Saint-Germain, France), left wing Arkadiusz Moryto and back Szymon Sićko (both Industria Kielce). Left-handed 21-year-old Patryk Wasiak of Spain's Ademar León has been given the chance to make his senior national team debut.

Previous meeting

Latvia and Poland already met this year in the second round of qualifying for the 2027 World Championship. Poland won on aggregate. In Jelgava, Latvia lost 24:33 (12:17), and in the return game in Opole it lost 25:33 (18:15).

Next game

After the match in Poland, the team returns home. On Sunday, 8 November, at 15:10 at the Zemgale Olympic Centre in Jelgava, Latvia hosts France.