Cuba downed as Palmarsson adds rocket fuel to Iceland 

Icelandic legend Aron Palmarsson made his 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship bow, returning to the side ahead of schedule from a calf injury to help the Europeans to a dominant victory over Cuba in Zagreb.

The result means Iceland join Slovenia on top of group G with four points from two games to set up a table-topping clash on Monday, while Cuba will face off against Cape Verde for the final main round spot.

GROUP G
Iceland vs Cuba 40:19 (21:9)

Ahead of the championship starting it was widely reported that Aron Palmarsson would be ready to return to national team action in the main round for Iceland, but the legendary player, who is nearing 200 appearances and 700 goals for his nation, surprised everybody by starting this one.

And Palmarsson made a ‘reverse cameo’, playing the first 16 minutes, scoring three and assisting four before leaving the court with his side 13:5 up to sit on the bench and change tops, ready to watch as a spectator for the remaining 44 minutes.

Earlier, at 3:3 in the fifth minute, Cuba would have been kicking themselves, having missed an additional three chances for what would have been a 6:3 lead, but you cannot waste opportunities like that against teams such as Iceland and they were punished further.

By the 18th minute, the difference was double figures (15:5) and Iceland were enjoying themselves, despite Frank Cordies best efforts for Cuba, scoring four of their five goals.

However, the goals quickly dried up and they were stuck on five for what seemed an eternity as Viktor Hallgrimsson made a number of impressive saves to keep his opponents out.

From the 9th to 21st minute the North American and Caribbean (NACHC) continental champions did not hit the back of the Icelandic net and the difference was +12 (17:5).

While their two games so far were not the results they wanted, Cuba, like Cape Verde, would have been focused all along on their clash against each other knowing that whatever happened in the matches before, the clash represents a clean start and one-off shot at the last 24.

hummel Player of the Match: Ellidi Snar Vidarsson (Iceland)