Double champion disenchanted, title curse defeated: Sweden has climbed the European handball throne again after decades of dry spells.
The Scandinavians defeated the defending champion Spain in a dramatic and high-class final with 27:26 (12:13) and won their fifth European Championship title thanks to a seven-meter goal from Kiel’s Niclas Ekberg in the final second. For the Swedes it was the first title in a major tournament since winning the European Championship in 2002.
The man of the evening in front of 12,047 spectators in the MVM Dome in Budapest was long-time Bundesliga goalkeeper Andreas Palicka with numerous saves. Ekberg and Oscar Bergendahl became the Swedes’ best throwers with five goals each. Adrian Figueras and Aleix Gomez Abello each scored six times for the Spaniards, who had won the European Championship title in 2018 and 2020.
“It’s indescribable and of course a damn honor,” said Ekberg, who had missed most of the tournament and was only allowed to leave his corona quarantine for the final: “It was pure hell. Mentally it was a war. I tried physically to stay in reasonable condition. And it worked – that’s how handball is fun.”
“There weren’t that many thoughts in my head. I just thought ‘the ball goes in’,” Ekberg said on Swedish television.
duel at eye level
Both teams fought a duel that was hard-fought until the final phase in the game, which was superbly controlled by the German referee duo Robert Schulze and Tobias Tönnies. The decision by Ekberg was only made with the last action of the game.
EM bronze went to Denmark. The team of former Bundesliga coach Nikolaj Jacobsen defeated Olympic champions France in the match for third place after extra time with 35:32 (29:29, 13:14) and ended up on the podium at a European championship for the first time since silver in 2014.
Sweden is stepping on the gas
In the final, Sweden got off to a furious start. 20 years after the last triumph of the “Bengan Boys”, that legendary team around the world handball player of the century Magnus Wislander and successful coach Bengt Johansson, their hunger for the title was clearly noticeable.
In the Swedish attack, Flensburg’s Jim Gottfridsson, who was named the most valuable player of the tournament on Sunday, pulled the strings as usual. As in the semi-final against France (34:33), Palicka excelled in goal with spectacular saves.
But the Spaniards were not discouraged by the initial Swedish power and, with all their routine from eleven professionals over the 30-year mark, took the lead for the first time in the final minute of the first half. The second period was also an exciting and highly emotional duel in which neither team was able to break away with more than two goals.
Thrilling fight for bronze
In the Bronze match, Denmark and France played a high-quality, open-minded game, with goalkeepers Vincent Gerard and Denmark’s Niklas Landin making their mark from the start. The decision came in the ten-minute overtime, when the Danes only conceded three goals at the back and Jacob Holm from Berlin scored the last two of his ten goals up front.
The Danes, who missed top star Mikkel Hansen due to an injury from the semi-finals (25:29 against Spain), found it difficult to get into the game and were trailing behind for the entire first half. Even the first lead (39th) did not initially give the hoped-for security. With ten minutes to go, France were two goals ahead before Denmark revived.