The Portuguese National Wheelchair Handball Team have taken the crown at the EHF Wheelchair EURO 2025 held at the NBA Basketball School in Vilnius, Lithuania form 26 to 30 November.

Nine national teams competed across four matchdays with the European Handball Federation event played for the first time in the mixed-gender, four-a-side format, the same which is used in the IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship. All previous editions of the European event were played in the six-a-side format.

An incredible group phase had seen all five teams in group A finish with four points each, Lithuania ending on top, while Portugal (six points), finished top of group B, ahead of France (4), Spain (2) and Romania (0).

The top two teams in each group went through to the semi-finals, where France beat the hosts and Portugal beat Croatia 2-0 each. All other teams went through to the placement matches.

On their way to gold, Portugal won all five of their games, dropping just one set, in the final against France.

Coach Danilo Ferreira's team won the first through a golden goal from Ricardo Queirós (6:7) in an opening period which saw Maria Albertina Relvas shown a red card and the Portuguese side come back from an early 5:1 deficit.

The second period saw France come from behind twice, finding themselves first 5:3 down and then 9:8 behind as the game entered its final minute. Again the teams could not be split and so it went down to a golden goal, this time, French player Fatih Cuhadar sealing the win, despite the French captain Mathieu De Cillia being sent off.

This meant it went down to a shoot-out, with Portugal remaining calm to dominate 7:0 and take the overall win, 2-1 (7:6, 9:10, 7:0) with captain João Jerónimo ending as the top-scorer.

“We complicated the game a lot; the nerves and anxiety of playing the final ended up hindering our game plan a bit,” said Jerónimo to portal.fpa.pt. “We managed to win the first set when France already thought it was won. In the second set, we continued to be quite nervous, with some anxiety about wanting to finish, we didn't make good decisions at the right time, and we ended up losing by one point.

“In the third set, with the exclusion of the French team captain and with the physical exhaustion, it ended up becoming slightly easier because we managed to create more spaces to finish the 360º and leverage the advantage.

“Having been European and world champion, it's a great feeling,” he added about another title. “I'm very happy, the group is very happy, it's the feeling of hard work and a duty fulfilled. It was 14 months of intensive work and a lot of support from our families; we sacrificed a lot to be able to win this title. I just hope that we will be recognised by our country, because we deserve it.”

Relvas won the women's MVP award and Ricardo Queirós finished as top-scorer, with 52 points.

“Congratulations to my athletes who are fantastic in their commitment, their desire, their attitude, both on and off the court,” said Portugal coach Ferreira to portal.fpa.pt.

Debutants and hosts Lithuania defeated Croatia 2:1 (7:8, 5:4, 6:3) in the third-place match to take bronze in a five-day championship that opened a new era for the sport.

Ahead of the final a minute of silence was observed in commemoration of Marc de Sousa, an EHF Expert and IHF Delegate from France and prominent advocate in the development of wheelchair handball who passed away last September.

EHF Wheelchair EURO 2025

MVPs: Maria Relvas (POR), Lorenzo Enzo Edjang (ESP)
Top scorer: Ricardo Queiros (POR) — 52 points

Final Ranking
1 Portugal*
2 France*
3 Lithuania
4 Croatia
5 Spain
6 Norway
7 Romania
8 Hungary
9 Netherlands

*Qualified for the 2026 IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship

For the complete Rules of the Game, visit HERE.

Photo credit: Vidamantas Butrys / EHF