A high-paced match between the Faroe Islands and Iceland ended in a 35:35 draw, further complicating the matters in Group F, while Spain became the first team to win their first two matches at Poland 2025, after a clear win against Saudi Arabia, 35:27.

GROUP F
Faroe Islands vs Iceland 35:35 (21:19)

There was no question for what Iceland had to do in an exciting Nordic derby, after conceding a 25:29 loss against Romania in the first day of the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship. Lose the match against the Faroe Islands and their chances of progression to the main round would become slim to none, as their opponents have previously won their first match.

And it was once again centre back Oli Mittun, the top scorer of the competition after the first round, who inspired the Faroe Islands, as the two teams, with a similar style and handball understanding, engaged into a fast-paced match, which produced 40 goals at half-time.

Mittun had seven goals and five assists at the end of the first half, where the Faroe Islands were firmly in control, with a fantastic rhythm, which produced 55 attacks for the two teams combined, as both had a shooting efficiency of over 70%.

A 3:0 run for the Faroe Islands bang in the middle of the first half created their first three-goal lead, 10:7, with the gap ballooning even further, 15:10, three minutes later. However, Iceland managed to slow things down, despite the Faroe Islands playing a seven-on-six or an even seven-on-five game, running and gunning around the court.

But Iceland had only one chance and that meant using a man-marking tactic on Mittun, effectively taking him out of the game and its construction, with the Faroe Islands needing to focus on opening up their avenues for new attacking tactics.

As centre back Elmar Erlingsson scored nine goals for Iceland until the 37th minute, his side managed to mount a comeback, 23:22, which was soon cancelled by another 4:1 run for the Faroe Islands, with line player Isak Vedelsbol taking over, seconding Mittun with eight goals by the 41st minute, when the Faroe Islands led by three goals, 28:25.

Yet Iceland were not ones for stopping. Powered by the fantastic Erlingsson, who scored all of Iceland’s goals between the 38th and the 50th minutes, seven in a row, to finish the match with 17 goals, the Nordic side were down only two goals, 30:32, with nine minutes to go.

But it was all Iceland in the end of the match, with Erlingsson still running the show, while the Faroe Islands were severly limited by the man-marking of Mittun. Therefore, in the last nine minutes, the Faroese side scored only twice, with Iceland taking a 35:34 lead and having the attack in the last 30 seconds.

Yet the Faroe Islands still recovered the ball and with a buzzer-beater penalty shot converted by Oli Mittun, who scored his 11th goal, the two sides shared the spoils, in a 35:35 draw.

Player of the Match: Elmar Erlingsson (Iceland)

GROUP H
Saudi Arabia vs Spain 27:35 (9:20)

After a clear win against Bahrain, Spain made it two out of two with a clear win over Saudi Arabia, virtually securing their main round berth, which will be mathematically clinched provided Egypt beat Bahrain in the next match.

Considered to be one of the biggest candidates for winning the title, which would see this generation clinch the gold medal in all the major international competitions they played, Spain had no issues against Saudi Arabia, once again resting their biggest star, Petar Cikusa.

But another player who had a fantastic season, left wing Ian Barrufet, was the main driving force for Spain’s strong outing against the Asian side, coach by another Spanish coach, Isidoro Martinez Llamazares, as the reigning European champions jumped to an early 12:3 lead, thanks to a 7:0 run powered by two goals from Barrufet and Djordje Cikusa each.

Saudi Arabia did improve until the end of the first half, but Spain were still clearly in command, with a 20:9 lead, as Barrufet had scored eight goals by the end of the 30 minutes, nearly outscoring Spain’s opponents by himself.

The second half did not bring a flurry of changes in the score, especially as Spain rotated their players as much as possible for handing them a rest before the last match of the group, scheduled for Sunday, where the European champions will face Egypt.

In fact, the two teams went toe-to-toe, with Saudi Arabia’s attack seriously improving its efficiency, while all but two of Spain’s outfield players scored at least one goal in the match, with the goalkeeping department for the European side finishing the match with a 36% saving efficiency.

Eventually, Spain clinched a 35:27 win and extended their winning streak in the competition.

Player of the Match: Ian Barrufet (Spain)