Final subscriber Norway has also reached the final of the 2024 European Handball Championship. There will be a repeat of the 2022 final against Denmark.
Record European champion Norway is reaching for its tenth title at the European Women’s Handball Championship. The defending champion and Olympic champion defeated co-host Hungary 30:22 (13:11) in the semi-finals in Vienna on Friday and, like two years ago, will face Denmark in the final on Sunday, which beat world champion France 24:22 (13:11). . The Norwegians have only not been represented in the final three times since the European Championship premiere in 1994.
World handball player Henny Reistad led the favorites to a confident success with seven goals as the best shooter. Hungary, which was a surprise team and made it into the medal games of a major tournament for the first time since 2012, was behind from the start and finally had to let go in the second half. In the game for third place there is still a chance of a podium finish on Sunday (3:15 p.m.). The final will also take place in the evening (6 p.m.) in the Wiener Stadthalle.
Danish defensive bulwark the cornerstone
A defensive duel developed later in the evening between France and the Danes. After the restart, Denmark seemingly secured the preliminary decision thanks to some extremely strong defensive work – France only scored three goals in around 18 minutes – but France remained within striking distance until the end. Anna Kristensen in the Danish goal was the match winner for the World Cup third place with an outstanding rate of 43 percent.
Now there is a new edition of the 2022 European Championship final: Two years ago, Norway secured the gold medal with a 27:25 in Ljubljana and is once again slightly favored for the final. Denmark, which was narrowly defeated by the Norwegians in the main round in Vienna (24:27), is fighting for its first European Championship triumph since 2002.
The Swedes secured fifth place on Friday with a 33:32 (15:15) win against the Netherlands. The German team led by national coach Markus Gaugisch missed the targeted semi-finals and finished the tournament in seventh place after four wins from seven games – the same position as at the 2022 and 2020 European Championships.