National Women's Handball Team will compete in the 17th European Women's Handball Championship, which will be hosted by Türkiye, Poland, Romania, Czechia and Slovakia between 3-20 December. The matches in the Turkish stage of the championship will be played in Antalya between 3-7 December.
The national team will face Greece on December 3, Denmark on December 5 and Spain on December 7 in Group C matches in Antalya.
Making a statement to the AA correspondent regarding the work of the National Women's Handball Team, which continues its preparations for the 2026 Women's European Handball Championship, David Ginesta Montes stated that they had two intense camp periods in a period of approximately 1.5 months and said, "My players are working willingly and motivatedly. I think I have effectively benefited from all the camps we have held so far and I am very pleased. We will complete all our preparations for the tournament we will play in Antalya after the next camp." he said.
Stating that the presence of experienced players and young players in the team creates a positive picture, the Spanish head coach said, "We are trying to play the best with the players we have. Of course, our experienced players make great contributions, but our young players also keep up with them. They work very well and do good work." he said.
Emphasizing that it will be gratifying to play in front of the fans in Antalya, Montes noted that they will play every match in the championship to win and said, "Every match we play is more valuable than the other and everyone wants to do everything in the best way. In the end, only one country will win the gold medal. We will try to show the highest performance. I hope the stands will be full. We will do our best with this fan atmosphere and we will see together how far we can go." he said.
Stating that he was satisfied with all the developments since the first day he took office, Montes said, "First of all, we set out to change the generation and I think we were successful here too. We did our best to add young players to the squad. We have been working on this issue since the first day. We have started to make progress in the lower categories. Now we have started to take a few steps forward." he said.
Reminding that they will face Greece in the first match of the Antalya leg of the European Championship, Montes said that they will fight to win but they need to act with realistic goals.
Pointing out that they will face Denmark in the 2026 European Cup and that their opponents are the European champions, Montes said, "We need to be realistic, but this does not mean that we will not try everything we can. Of course, we will put everything we can on the field. We are working together with a great team to develop Turkish handball. I am also the primary responsible for the youth team. We are trying to do our best there, too. We are constantly working to produce new things." made his assessment.
National Women's Handball Team captain Nurceren Akgün Göktepe said that the friendly matches they played with Ukraine and Iran before the European Championship were productive in terms of seeing the team's shortcomings and improving the harmony between the players.
Stating that they showed a good technical and tactical performance in the preparation matches, Nurceren said, "Our coach tried to give everyone a chance. We saw the harmony among the team. We also saw where we need to improve and where we are lacking. We have a little more time, hopefully we hope to be ready for the championship in a more harmonious way by the next camp." he said.
Emphasizing that it has a special meaning for Türkiye to host a stage of the European Championship, the national captain said:
"We are definitely ready, we are very excited. We want to do the best we can at home and show the power of Turkish handball and Turkish women. We will open with the first match against Greece. Hopefully, we want to start the tournament with a win. We managed to participate in the European Championship for the first time in our history in 2024. This is the second time, we hope to continue."
Reminding that they will face Denmark and Spain after Greece in Antalya, Nurceren said, "We are planning to go match by match. If we get out of Antalya successfully, we will continue to the next round in Romania. Hopefully, we aim there. The atmosphere in the team is very good. There are both young players and experienced players. Everyone is in good harmony with each other. Our environment is very nice. I hope we can manage to reflect this on the field." he said.
