Slovenia controlled the match against the last-placed team in group 3 qualifying, taking a 16-8 lead into half time and then calmly bringing the win home.

A 33-14 win by Sweden over Latvia in the other qualifying match of the day guarantees Slovenia second place in the group and qualification to the tournament which will be played in January of next year.

The match in Prešov was the first for the new head coach of Slovenia, Veselin Vujović, who was appointed to the post a fortnight ago.

The Montenegrin handball legend was brought in to lead the team after Boris Denić was let go due to a string of unimpressive performances in qualifying.

The 54-year-old responded by making several personnel changes and taking away the heavy focus on the centre to create plays for the match with Slovakia.