Two weeks ago, the Swedish men's national team played their first competitive match in three years. The European Championship qualifying round began with a loss, but on Wednesday, Sweden got to experience what it's like to win again.
In Guadalajara, Spain was defeated with a clear 3–0 (25–21, 25–20, 25–19) – the first blue and yellow victory in competitive context since January 2019. This means that Sweden is now seriously mixing it up in the battle for a spot in the European Championship 2026. All group winners and the five best group runners-up will qualify for the championship.
The European Championship qualifying round concludes next autumn, with a home match against Spain and an away match against Switzerland.
For Swedish volleyball in general, the victory over Spain was yet another feather in the cap. As recently as two and a half weeks ago, the beach volleyball duo Jonatan Hellvig and David Åhman took Olympic gold in Paris.