Six moments that left everybody Inspired by Handball at the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship

11 Feb. 2025

Six moments that left everybody Inspired by Handball at the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship

The 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship has finished a week ago, with Denmark securing their fourth consecutive title, an unprecedented performance in the competition. But with 108 matches played in Croatia, Denmark and Norway, the IHF Men’s World Championship is not only about the final, or about handball. It is also about fair play, the spirit of the competition and the memories which we will carry in the future.

What were the iconic moments of Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025? What did we like the most in the competition? Let’s take a short trip down the memory lane for the last month to see exactly what were the top moments in the competition.

Perez de Vargas oozes fair play against Sweden

40 minutes into the clash between Spain and Sweden, the final match of Group F in the preliminary round at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, a penalty was awarded to Sweden, after Spain’s left back Dani Dujshebaev fouled Sweden’s right wing Sebastian Karlsson.

Sweden’s left wing Hampus Wanne stepped in to take the penalty and he faced a familiar foe, FC Barcelona teammate Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, who replaced Sergey Hernandez between Spain’s posts.

Wanne and Perez de Vargas have been featuring together for the Spanish powerhouse for the past three seasons, winning the EHF Champions League once, the league-Cup double twice, as well as the Spanish Supercup twice, also playing in the IHF Men’s Club Championship in 2023 and 2024.

The two knew each other well, with probably countless penalties taken by Wanne in training sessions facing Perez de Vargas. And sure enough, the Spanish goalkeeper knew Sweden’s left wing pretty well, proving it by saving the penalty.

It was 20:14 for Sweden and a goal would have made it a seven-goal lead for the Scandinavian side, which was running away with the win and the crucial two points to take into the main round.

But as Wanne missed the penalty, the ball hit Perez de Vargas’ head, richoceting from his arm. As Hungarian referee Adam Biro saw the ball hitting the head of Spain’s goalkeeper, he stopped the time and awarded a red card for Wanne, the penalty stipulated in the Rules of the Game for a direct shot to the head of the goalkeeper from a penalty.

Yet Perez de Vargas went directly to the referee and proved that fair-play is stronger than any personal ambition or the result of the match, pointing out that Wanne hit his arm first, then the head, prompting the referee to cancel the red card.

The moment was viewed more than 5 million times on Instagram, 3 million times on Facebook and racked up 2.1 million views on TikTok, making sure that the coverage and the reach were intense.

Gidsel shines bright as MVP

Mathias Gidsel was the All-Star right back at Egypt 2021, winning his first world title. Then, he followed up with a MVP title at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. An All-Star right back at the EHF EURO 2022 was followed by the MVP title at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, where he was also the top scorer.

In 2024, he continued his streak, being named the All-Star right back of the EHF EURO. And then he secured the MVP title, the top goal scorer title and the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

And now, he has won the MVP and the top goal scorer titles in back-to-back editions of the IHF Men’s World Championship, as the Denmark right back delivered a fantastic performance, with 74 goals at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025.

Only four players have scored more goals in a single edition of the world handball flagship competition than Gidsel, with Kiril Lazarov having 92 goals in 2009, Kyungshin Yoon scoring 82 in 1995, and Wissem Hmam and Eduard Koskharov putting 81 and 80 goals respectively past the opposing goalkeepers in 2005.

It’s truly Gidsel’s world right now in handball and we are living in it, as just after the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, the Danish star put pen to paper for an extension with Fuchse Berlin until 2029.

A feel-good retirement for Duvnjak

The last moments of Domagoj Duvnjak in a Croatia shirt at the IHF Men’s World Championship were truly special. With his team down seven goals in the final against Denmark and nursing an injury which kept him under wraps for most of the competition, Duvnjak got invited to score with the last shot of the match.

He was then consoled by Denmark’s players, but will leave the Croatia team with the head up high, as the player with the largest number of caps and the largest number of goals scored. But the most important thing? Another medal to the tally of his team.

Duvnjak secured his third medal at the IHF Men’s World Championship, after the silver in 2009 and the bronze in 2013, at his 10th edition of the world handball flagship competition. He also has a bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games and another five medals at the EHF EURO. Unfortunately, the title eluded one of the all-time greats of the sport, but his farewell was surely special.

A great handball party in three countries

There were 19 matches with over 10,000 spectators at this edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship, the first to be organised in three different countries, as the three venues which had this capacity – the Unity Arena in Baerum, the Arena Zagreb and the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning – provided a fabulous setting for handball and for the spectators to enjoy the matches, as well as taking part in fun activities.

The Arena Zagreb being at capacity for almost all of Croatia’s matches was a huge reason behind the success of Dagur Sigurdsson’s side, as it became a volcano for the crucial matches against Slovenia, Iceland, Hungary or France. Thousands of Croatia fans also travelled to Oslo to see the final, creating the same atmosphere like in Zagreb.

In the Jyske Bank Boxen, a venue which is now well-known for the atmosphere, Denmark won their first six matches in a sea of red shirts in the stands. The traditional fan zone was also up and running, with a special handball museum opened for everybody to learn more about the history of the sport both in Denmark, as well as in the world.

In the Unity Arena in Baerum, a stadium specially modified for this event, the fans also flocked to see Norway playing, but after the Scandinavian side was eliminated, the numbers were still high, with some great attendances for the final day. A new record for attendance for a Norway national team match played on home soil was also set, when 11,345 spectators came to see the match against Portugal.

Portugal, kings of the future?

Portugal are also one of the inspiring stories at this edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship. Led by the “Best Young Player Presented by Lidl”, Francisco Costa, who at only 19 years old was the second best scorer in the competition, Portugal secured their maiden appearance in the semi-finals of the IHF Men’s World Championship, but failed to secure a medal after conceding two losses against Denmark and France in the last two matches.

Costa has been nothing short of outstanding at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, scoring 54 of Portugal’s 301 goals, being on the podium of the top goal scorer standings, with 54 goals, tied for the second place with Dika Mem. He also converted 69% of his shots and has 22 assists, having a direct hand in 77 of his team’s goals.

The future looks bright for Portugal, which have a great, young team, a team likely to contend in the future for the top spots in major international competitions, provided they bring the same energy, quality and spirit, which helped them secure wins against Norway and Spain, as well as an extra-time win against Germany in the quarter-finals, one of the best matches of the entire competition.

Brazil's fantastic performance raises the bar

For the first time since 1999, two non-European teams from different hemipsheres of the Globe made it to the quarter-finals of the competition, as Egypt and Brazil marked the fourth occasion in the world handball flagship competition had two non-European sides in the top-8.

While Egypt finished fifth and were always one of the powerhouses of the world handball, Brazil secured their best-ever finish in the competition, after winning against Norway, Sweden and Spain, three of the most consistent European teams in the last decades in men’s handball.

The South American side had a fantastic mix of youth and experience and were carried by an excellent performance of goalkeeper Rangel Da Rosa, as well as the present and the future of their back line, Haniel Langaro and Bryan Monte da Silva respectively.