The German national handball team got a successful start to the qualifying round of the European Championship on Wednesday, beating Finland 30:18 in the team's first match under new coach Dagur Sigurdsson. It's the first step toward the Euro 2016, which will be held in Poland.

Around 4,000 spectators in the sold-out arena in Gummersbach saw Uwe Gensheimer and Steffen Weinhold lead the German side with four goals each. Finland were clearly outmatched, and the game was seen as a warm up for Germany's first real test of the qualification round: their second group match on Sunday in Austria.

"All in all, I'm pretty satisfied," said Sigurdsson. "We lacked concentration in the second half, but for the most part we were in control of the game."

World champion Spain waiting in the group

A win against Austria, the team Sigurdsson coached prior to coming to Germany, would be an excellent starting point for his new team ahead of two matches against the defending world champions Spain later next year.

The two best from each of the seven groups along with the best third place team qualify for the 2016 European Championship, to be held in January 2016.