Germany bounced back with a win in their last match at the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, 27:26 against Egypt, to finish fifth in the final standings, while Slovenia ended seventh, with a 24:23 win over Norway.

Placement Match 5/6
Egypt vs Germany 26:27 (15:11)
A win in this match would have seen Egypt finish in the top-5 at the IHF Men’s Junior World Championship for the seventh time in history, but this was no easy proposition for the African champions, which were facing a wounded Germany side, the reigning world champions, which went out of contention after their quarter-finals loss against Sweden.

A win against Norway sweetened the pot for the European side, but Egypt looked strong in the first half, building a four-goal lead at the break, 15:11, thanks to a dazzling seven-on-six attack, used mostly in the second part of the first 30 minutes, which Germany had no answer to.

And then there was Germany’s penchant for mistakes, especially in one-on-one missed situations, where Egypt’s goalkeeper, Youssef Salama, shined. In fact, in the first half, Salama had 12 saves, for an outstanding 47% saving efficiency, limiting the Germany attack to a meagre 45% shooting efficiency.

But as Egypt’s turnovers woes extended in the second half, Germany pushed for a comeback, even if they were down by six goals in the 25th minute, 9:15. With a strong 6:1 run, spurred by centre back Linus Kutz, who had three goals in quick succession, Germany tied the score, 16:16, forcing Egypt to take a team time-out, as the African side was for the first time backed into a corner.

Despite having only 14 players, Germany did not look tired and started to exert more control of the match, as they took a two-goal lead twice, 21:19 and 21:23, but Egypt bounced back and used a 3:0 run spurred by two goals from right back Ziad Abdelrahim to wrestle back the lead, 24:23.

However, it was the last time when Egypt held the lead. The fantastic Kutz, who had eight goals in the match, took over again, scoring two of the last four goals from Germany, including the last one, with 26 seconds to go, with the other two goals coming from fast breaks from David Móré. In total, Kutz and Móré combined for 14 goals, helping Germany secure a 27:26 win, which saw them finish fifth, as Egypt ended sixth in the final standings.

Player of the Match: Youssef Salama (Egypt)

Placement Match 7/8
Slovenia vs Norway 24:23 (10:13)

A better finish acts like a morale boost for every team in the competition, therefore neither Slovenia, nor Norway wanted to finish Poland 2025 with three consecutive losses, especially after the two sides had already met in the preliminary round and ended in a deadlock, 31:31.

But Slovenia had the better start in their last match at the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, taking a 5:2 lead, after a 4:0 unanswered run, where goalkeeper Mark Šalamon, the Player of the Match, had already started providing some excellent saves.

Nevertheless, Norway did not back down and used two 3:0 unanswered runs, spurred by David Haugstvedt, Even Haugli and Henrik Hartz Hagen to open up a 13:10 lead at the break, looking in firm control of the match, with a strong performance in attack.

But that attacking nous was nowhere to be found in the second half, especially as Šalamon finished the match with 20 saves for an outstanding 47% saving efficiency. In turn, that meant that Norway’s attacking efficiency dropped heavily, as their top scorers had at least four missed shots each.

And then Slovenia started slowly cutting into Norway’s lead, as the four-goal lead taken by the Scandinavian side in the 44th minute, 19:15, evaporated quickly. Led by right wing Vanja Dragić, who had nine goals, but also by 17-year-old rising star Aljuš Anžič, Slovenia tied the score in only seven minutes, 20:20, proceeding to clinch a 24:23 win at the end, as Norway’s last attack saw Hagen’s shot blocked.

Slovenia recorded their ninth top-10 finish in the competition and their seventh top-8 finish, bouncing back after missing out on a top-16 finish at Germany/Greece 2023, when they ended up 20th. On the other side, Norway finished eighth, but showed plenty of promise with the current crop of players.

Player of the Match: Mark Šalamon (Slovenia)