The big day is here: a new champion will be crowned at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship and two European powerhouses are due to battle for the win, when Spain take on Germany in the Cairo Stadium – Hall 1 at 19:30 EEST on Sunday for the title.

Four matches are scheduled on Sunday, including the bronze medal match between Sweden and Denmark, a rematch of last year’s European Championship final, which Sweden won in extra-time.

Final

• 19:30 EEST Spain vs Germany

Bronze medal match

• 17:00 EEST Sweden vs Denmark

Placement Match 5/6

• 14:45 EEST Egypt vs Iceland

Placement Match 7/8

• 12:30 EEST Norway vs Hungary

19:30 EEST - Spain vs Germany

This will be Spain’s fourth final at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship and Germany’s second, but there is no clear favourite in this match, as Germany entered as underdogs several times in this competition, but they are still the only team which did not lose so far – with six wins and a single draw, 28:28 in the preliminary round against the Faroe Islands.

Spain, on the other hand, won big against Serbia, 42:24, secured crunch wins against Croatia, 38:35, Egypt, 31:29 and Sweden, 33:30, but conceded a loss against Iceland, 28:29, conceding two goals in the last 20 seconds of the match.

However, Spain have a clear advantage in attack, where they have scored 261 goals, an average of 37,3 per match, boasting the best attack at Egypt 2025, while Germany have lagged behind and have scored only 214 goals, being the 18th best scoring team, with an average of 30,5 goals per match.

Nevertheless, Germany have conceded only 180 goals so far, the fourth lowest number, nine less than Spain, but both teams have been impressive on this side of the ball, considering their opponents so far at the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship.

"Spain is a good team that plays a different defensive system, is very anticipatory and willing to run. It will be a big cognitive challenge for us. But the adrenaline will do a lot for the players, and the form of the day will decide. We are really looking forward to the match," said Germany’s coach, Eric Wudtke, for handball.net before the match.

Germany lost their only final played so far at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, conceding a 28:32 in the last act of the 2019 edition against Egypt, with players like Julian Koster or Nils Lichtlein in the squad coached by the same Wudtke.

On the other hand, this is Spain’s fourth final, after the ones lost in 2011 and 2017, and the one won in 2023, in the previous edition, when the golden generation of “Los Hispanos” managed to win the maiden trophy in this age category.

“Well, we were a bit more under pressure because the generation before us has won everything there is to win. Obviously, we would like to do just as well, even though it's very difficult. But we want to try and until now, we managed to do pretty well,” said Spain’s centre back Quim Rocas, after the semi-final against Sweden.

Provided Spain win the title, they will become only the third team in history to clinch back-to-back trophies at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, after Denmark and France.

Spain will also secure their fourth medal in the competition, with only Denmark (six medals) and Croatia (five medals) winning more in history.

17:00 EEST – Sweden vs Denmark

Denmark missed out on a chance to set a historic precedent at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship – the same teams playing consecutive finals, after they lost the semi-final against Germany, 30:32.

The Scandinavian side went behind early and never managed to get a footing in the match, with their attack failing to produce the necessary output to mount a comeback and will have to settle for the bronze medal match, where they have the chance to secure their seventh medal in 10 appearances in the competition.

Their semi-final losses were their first at Egypt 2025 for both Denmark and Sweden, with the latter side seeing a six-match winning streak broken by their 30:33 loss against Spain, while Denmark had already drawn against Egypt, 29:29, in the main round.

Both sides are not in their maiden bronze medal match at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, with Sweden having already finished third three times, in 2007, 2009 and 2011, while Denmark have two bronze medals, in 2017 and 2019 and missed the podium in 2007, when they finished fourth.

This is also a rematch of this generation’s continental final last year at the M18 EHF EURO 2024, when Sweden took a 37:36 extra-time win in the final in Podgorica.