Denmark’s Mathias Gidsel has once again underlined his status as an absolute superstar at the European Handball Championship. The world handball player even set a new record – and was honored with a special award after the final victory against the German team (34:27).
Goal record, MVP award and European Championship title: For Mathias Gidsel from Füchse Berlin, the European Handball Championship with his Danish superior team could hardly have gone better.
The 26-year-old was almost unstoppable in the final against the German team on Sunday, scoring seven goals and was the second-best thrower behind team-mate Simon Pytlick.
Impressive: Gidsel scored an outstanding 68 goals in a total of nine European Championship appearances with an efficiency of 71.6 percent, which not only secured him the title as top goalscorer, but also set a new European Championship record. Norwegian Sander Sagosen scored 65 goals at Euro 2020.
Pytlick, who earns his money at SG Flensburg Handewitt, scored 64 goals (71.1%), followed in third place by the Portuguese Francisco Costa (61 goals, 64.9%). Renars Uscins became the best German tournament goalscorer with 43 goals.
Handball European Championship 2026: Gidsel wins MVP award
After winning the final, superstar Gidsel was also able to celebrate being named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Danes, who have dominated handball for years, were able to end a 14-year European Championship curse at their home tournament and became the first hosts of a European Championship since 2002 to win the title.
In addition, Mathias Gidsel and Co. became the second team after France (2010) to complete the Golden Slam of handball and, after winning Olympic and World Cup gold, also secured the European Championship title. Over the course of the tournament, Denmark only suffered one defeat when they surprisingly lost out to Portugal in the group stage. Successful coach Nikolaj Jacobsen’s team won against the DHB selection in the main round.
