Eight women teams and eight men’s teams lined up at the start of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), which took place in Skopje, North Macedonia, between 21 and 26 July, as Iceland won the title in the men’s competition and Germany secured the trophy in the women’s competition.

In both the men’s and the women’s competitions, eight Under-17 teams were lined up at the start, and they were divided into two groups of four teams each, with the top two sides in each group progressing to the next phase of the competition.

Germany proved to be too strong for the rest of the pack in the women’s competition, securing their second success in less than one week, after clinching the trophy in the W19 EHF EURO 2025.

In the preliminary round, Germany could not overpower France, as the first match between the two sides ended in a stalemate, 26:26, but then delivered two pitch perfect performances, with a 33:14 win against Hungary and a 29:25 win against the Netherlands to win the group.

Netherlands’ 24:23 win against Hungary, followed up by another nip and tuck win against France, 28:27, saw the Dutch side progress to the next phase, while in Group B, Switzerland produced a pitch perfect performance, with a 33:22 win against Norway, a 33:20 win against the hosts and a 34:21 win against Iceland.

Iceland’s 30:25 win against Norway in the second matchday of the preliminary round was enough to see them through as the second-placed side in the group, but their tough encounter against Germany proved to be too hard.

In the semi-finals, Germany’s Mia Fuchs scored eight goals in the 28:24 win against Iceland, while Switzerland overpowered the Netherlands, 31:21, looking to be the top of the crop in this competition.

But Germany delivered a clinical performance in defence to limit Switzerland’s top attack to 24 goals, taking a hard-fought 26:24 win in the final, as Fuchs scored three goals to be the top goal scorer of the competition. Iceland secured the bronze medal, with a 31:26 win against the Netherlands.

Iceland secure historic win

In the men’s competition, only one team created a five-match winning streak and that was the champions, Iceland.

The Nordic side started off strong, with a 31:19 win over Spain, followed up by a 35:21 win against Croatia and a 36:27 win against the hosts, with all of the three wins in the preliminary round coming by at least nine goals.

Croatia finished second in the group, with the 21:21 draw against Spain seeing them just edge their counteparts, as they boasted a -6 goal difference, as opposed to Spain’s -7.

In Group B, Germany finished first, with wins over Hungary, Portugal and Norway, with a +29 goal difference, as Hungary finished second, with two wins in three matches.

But Hungary were no match to Iceland, which jumped to a clear 40:32 win in the semi-finals, as Germany thoroughly outplayed Croatia, 35:23, to secure a place in the final, courtesy to their fourth consecutive win.

A historic performance from Iceland, which had the top scorer of the competition, Gunnar Róbertsson, score seven goals from seven shots, saw them beat Germany in the last act, 28:25, with Croatia sealing the bronze, thanks to their 37:31 win against Hungary.

Photo credit: Team Germany / Icelandic Handball Federation