The third matchday of the preliminary round in the men’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games could be deciding for France and Argentina, the two teams which are on a two-match losing streak in the competition.

France are due to meet Egypt, a side which has impressed so far, while Argentina, which will be without their captain, Diego Simonet, due to injury, face reigning world championst, Denmark.

On the other hand, Mikkel Hansen will write more history, while his teammates, the fantastic trio of Mathias Gidsel, Simon Pytlick and Thomas Sommer Arnoldsen, look for more goals, as they are in the top 10 goal scorers at Paris 2024.

GROUP A

• 11:00 CEST Croatia vs Germany
• 14:00 CEST Spain vs Japan
• 16:00 CEST Slovenia vs Sweden

GROUP B

• 09:00 CEST Norway vs Hungary
• 19:00 CEST France vs Egypt
• 21:00 CEST Denmark vs Argentina

A must-win match for the hosts: France conceded two consecutive losses at the Olympic Games for the first time since Atlanta 1996. For a team with such consistency, it is remarkable how they lost against both Denmark and Norway, especially on their home court, but Guillaume Gille’s side needs to bounce back if they are to have a chance to defend their Olympic title secured at Tokyo 2020. Not everything is lost, though, as France can still finish between the top four sides, but against Egypt, they cannot afford any misstep. The African champions have a win already and will try to clinch their second one and improve their chances for a quarter-finals berth. 

What Egypt side will show up? Egypt were fantastic in their 35:32 win against Hungary in the first round and conceded their first loss in the second matchday, 27:30, against Denmark. It was a combination of the African champions missing too many shots and Denmark being flawless in the first half which decided the match, with Denmark taking a 19:9 lead. Next up for Egypt are France, a team which won against Egypt every time in their last six official meetings, including a 22:21 win at Athens 2004 and a 27:23 win at Tokyo 2020. But if the Egypt which played great three out of the four halves at Paris 2024 show up, than France will have a big challenge on their hands.

Denmark’s fantastic trio to shine again? The top two scorers after two rounds are two Denmark backs, Mathias Gidsel (19 goals) and Simon Pytlick (18 goals). Another Denmark rising star, centre back Thomas Sommer Arnoldsen has scored 11 goals, as the trio combined for 48 of Denmark’s 67 goals. That are some impressive numbers, but when Gidsel converted 73% of his shots, Pytlick has a 78% shooting efficiency and Arnolsden a 69% efficiency, that is even more impressive, proving that Denmark can be unstoppable at times.

Can Germany break the tradition against Croatia? In 12 mutual matches between the two sides at major international competitions, Croatia have won eight times, including two times in 2024, on German soil. First, at the EHF EURO 2024, Croatia took a 30:24 win. The second time, in a crucial match, Croatia beat Germany, 33:30, in Hanover, in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #2. Croatia also have a three-match winning streak against Germany, with Germany’s last win coming in January 2019, at the 2019 IHF Men’s World Championship, 22:21.

One more win to tie record for Norway: The Scandinavian side had an impressive start of the men’s handball competition at Paris 2024, with wins against Argentina (36:31) and France (27:22). In their previous two appearances at the Olympics, Norway secured three wins each time, so another win against Hungary will mean that they would clinch their ninth win in history and tie their record set at Munich 1972 and Tokyo 2020. Indeed, Norway have been one of the surprises of the competition so far, more so because they did not rely so much on star Sander Sagosen as in the past.

An all-Spanish battle between Spain and Japan: Japan’s current coach, Antonio Carlos Ortega, has featured 144 times and scored 507 times for Spain as a player, winning the bronze medal at Sydney 2000 with “Los Hispanos”. Now, he will aim to beat his country in the head-to-head battle in Group A, where Japan are on zero points, while Spain have two points, after the win against Slovenia. It is somewhat of a last chance for Japan, the last-placed side in the group, with another loss seeing them drift away from a quarter-finals berth.

Slovenia, the next team to have 10 wins at the Olympics? In 22 matches played at the Olympic Games, at Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Rio 2016, Slovenia have won nine matches. They can secure their 10th win when they face Sweden, a team that has won nearly five times more matches than Slovenia, 41. Basically, Sweden have the same number of medals won at the Olympics – four – as Slovenia have appearances. But history is made on the court, and Uros Zorman’s side, a plucky team which can cause issues for any team, has the same number of points as Sweden, two, with everything to play for.

Can Argentina save themselves from elimination? Argentina are by far the team with the largest number of conceded goals at Paris 2024, 71, and face the daunting task of meeting the joint best attack, Denmark, which scored 67 goals. Adding more to the South American side’s woes, Argentina’s centre back Diego Simonet suffered an injury against Hungary and will be out against Denmark and France. He aims to play against Egypt, but Argentina need results now, with a third consecutive loss likely meaning that the Pan American champions are virtually eliminated.

Hansen’s 32th match at the Olympic Games: Nikola Karabatic will play in his 42nd match at the Olympic Games against Egypt, while Mikkel Hansen will don the Denmark shirt for the 32nd time in the competition, making him the player with the third largest number of appearances, after Karabatic and Andrey Lavrov, who has 35 matches. If Denmark qualify for the quarter-finals, Hansen will at least tie Lavrov, as he is already the top goal scorer in the history of the competition, with 173 goals, having scored eight times at Paris 2024.

A new record of goals at an Olympics edition? 2204 goals were scored at Tokyo 2020, for an average of 58 goals scored per match, an improvement of over three goals per match from Rio 2016. The fast-paced nature of the sport has accelerated the rhythm even more in the men’s handball competition at Paris 2024, where we are on pace for a new record. 707 goals have been scored so far in the first 12 matches, for an average of 58.91 goals per match, with six matches having at least 60 goals scored. The highest-scoring matches so far were the ones between Hungary and Egypt, as well as Norway vs Argentina, with 67 goals each.