After Slovenia served Switzerland heartbreak with a comeback victory in round 2, the side ultimately gifted Switzerland a long-awaited place in the EHF EURO main round — alongside Switzerland’s own results, naturally. Slovenia’s win against the Faroe Islands kept the Nordic side on three points, making for a points tie between the Faroe Islands and Switzerland. The table ranking then came to goal difference, where Switzerland held the upper hand after round 3.
Prior to round 3, the situation looked tough for Switzerland. They took the court with one point and a goal difference of -3, while the Faroe Islands’ was +13. However, a record win for Switzerland, who smashed their previous best of seven goals (31:24 versus Poland in 2020) with a 43:26 result against Montenegro, sent their goal difference up to +14.
From needing a win with a certain score line in Slovenia’s favour, Switzerland’s result meant any Slovenia victory would be enough for them to progress to the main round for the first time since 2004.