Olympic champion and world champion Denmark concluded the main round of the European Handball Championship with a sweeping victory, giving the German selection a semi-final duel with Croatia.
The Danes won against Norway 38:24 (19:16) on Wednesday evening, meaning they finished Group I in first place ahead of Germany. Denmark will now face Iceland in the semi-finals on Friday; national coach Alfred Gislason’s team will face runner-up Croatia, the winner of Group II.
At the beginning of the prestigious duel, the Danes were initially a lot behind the already eliminated Norwegians. It was only shortly before the break that the big favorites got the game under control – and then pulled away. World handball player Mathias Gidsel from Füchse Berlin and Emil Jakobsen (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) were the Danes’ best throwers with seven goals each.
The Croatians secured first place in the parallel group earlier on Wednesday evening with a 27:25 (13:15) win against Hungary. However, the team of coach Dagur Sigurdsson, coach during Germany’s European Championship success in 2016, had to tremble a lot. It wasn’t until the 46th minute of the game that the team took the lead for the first time. On Wednesday evening, no Croatian scored more than four goals; on the other hand, Bence Imre was the most successful thrower with seven goals.
Iceland secured its ticket to the semi-finals in the afternoon with a 39:31 (18:16) win against Slovenia; it is the small nation’s first semi-final appearance since 2010.
Co-host Sweden was already eliminated due to the results of the competition before the end of the main round, but they still managed a furious 34:21 (14:12) against Switzerland. In third place, record European champions Sweden are now playing the placement game for fifth place against Portugal, which ultimately won 35:27 (16:12) against Spain.
