46* games have already been played at Egypt 2021, as the main round of the 27th IHF Men’s World Championship is set to throw off later today.

There have been 2,625 goals scored so far in the tournament, with Hungary leading the way with 107 goals, followed by Slovenia (105) and Denmark (104).

However, only two players from these three sides are in the top 10 of the top scorer list.

Slovenian right wing Blaz Janc and Danish back Mathias Gidsel have both scored 19 times and are eighth in the top goal scorer standings, already 11 goals behind Norwegian left back Sander Sagosen.

Following his outstanding performance at the Men’s EHF EURO 2020, where he won the top scorer award with 65 goals in eight games, Sagosen seems to be in top shape in Egypt as well.

Despite Norway losing one game against France in the preliminary round, Sagosen’s performances have been nothing short of spectacular, scoring at an alarming pace for his side.

Converting 68 percent of his shots, THW Kiel’s left back leads the way with 30 goals, five more than Qatar right back Frankis Carol and seven more than Tunisia’s centre back Mohamed Darmoul.

Wings Bjarki Mar Elisson (ISL), Arkadiusz Moryto (POL), who both scored 22 times, and Mikita Vailupau (BLR), with 21 goals, are joint-fourth and sixth in the top scorer ranking.

With 60 games yet to be played at Egypt 2021, chances are that Sagosen could challenge Kiril Lazarov’s (MKD) record of goals scored in a single tournament. Provided that Norway go all the way to the final, Sagosen has a fighting chance to pass Lazarov’s 92 goals scored at Croatia 2009.

Sagosen has also impressed with his playmaking capabilities, dishing 19 assists in the competition, enough for the second place, only two assists shy of the leader, DR Congo’s Aurelien Tchitombi.

As Cape Verde withdrew from the World Championship after their first game, due to being unable to field at least 10 players, as per the COVID-19 Competition-related Regulations for Egypt 2021, their last two matches were awarded 10:0 to their opponents.

Egypt 2021 is on pace to become the highest scoring IHF Men’s World Championship since Germany 2007.

Leaving aside the two cancelled matches, teams have been combining to score an average of 56.63 goals per game, an improvement of more than two goals per game from Germany/Denmark 2019, when the average was 54.47.

There is still a long way to the record set 14 years ago, 57.88 goals per game, yet the sheer quality of attacks at Egypt 2021 have been on display with dazzling games.

The Slovenia versus Republic of Korea clash that opened Group H was the highest scoring game at Egypt 2021 (80), while Norway and Austria had a combined 67 goals in their game, as well as Chile and Sweden. 

Goalkeepers are also making a mark at the 27th IHF Men’s World Championship, though. The average saving efficiency is a superb 38 percent, with Germany’s Silvio Heinevetter leading the way, saving at 52 percent efficiency, followed by Russian Handball Federation Team’s Stanislav Tretynko, who saved 50 percent of the shots he faced, and Portugal’s 43-year-old shot stopper Humberto Gomes, with 49 percent.

But no other goalkeeper saved more shots than Spain’s Gonzalo Perez de Vargas – 35 – followed by Morocco’s Yassine Idrissi with 30 and Poland’s Adam Morawski, with 27.

*Initially, 48 matches were scheduled to be played, but following the withdrawal of Cape Verde, their two games vs Germany and vs Uruguay were cancelled with 10:0 wins awarded to their two opponents.