Denmark continue title hunt; Croatia, Germany and Iceland make EURO semi-finals

Reigning world champions Denmark bounced back from a loss in the end of the preliminary round against Portugal to create a four-match winning streak and progress to the semi-finals of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026, joined by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games runners-up Germany, the runners-up of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship Croatia and surprise package Iceland.

Group I of the main round was dubbed the “Group of death”, with France, Germany and Portugal starting with two points, while Denmark, Norway and Spain starting on zero points and no room for mistake.

Backed by a fantastic Gidsel, who is on par to take again the top scoring crown, as well as the MVP plaudits, with a 73% shooting efficiency, Denmark levelled the playing field from their maiden match, with a 32:29 win over France, where Gidsel scored nine times.

It was not an easy win, but the Scandinavian powerhouse followed up with a 36:31 win over Spain, and secured safe passage to the next round via a 31:26 win over Germany, where Denmark were flawless in the second half. To crown themselves winners of the group, the world champions finished off with a 38:24 win over Norway.

 

As France lost their maiden match of the group, not everything was over for the 2024 European champions, and they bounced back in a fantastic 46:38 win over Portugal, with the largest number of goals scored in a half by a single team, 28, as well as the largest number of goals scored in a match at the EURO.

However, the embattled France conceded a shocking loss, 32:36, against Spain, following up with yet another loss in the decider against Germany, 34:38, despite a 11-goal performance from Dika Mem, which was cancelled by a 10-goal outing from the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship All-Star Young Player of the competition, Juri Knorr. Therefore, France missed the semi-finals for the fourth time in the last 12 editions and a new European champion will be crowned at the end of the competition.

Denmark and Germany progressed to the semi-finals, with eight points each, but Denmark holding the tie-breaker, while Portugal finished third, France ended up fourth, Norway fifth and Spain sixth, another finish outside the top-10 for the 2018 and 2020 European champions.

Group II was another true roller coaster, where Sweden, Iceland and Slovenia started with two points, but only one of the sides managed to qualify for the semi-finals, Iceland, with Croatia putting together a four-match winning streak to top the group.

The runners-up of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship threw off the main round with a 30:29 win over Iceland, and followed up with a 28:24 win over Switzerland, providing the same recipe: a tough defence to provide a platform for the attack. Then they won against Slovenia, 29:25, and mounted a spirited comeback against Hungary, 27:25, to top off the group.

Iceland’s key win came against Sweden, 35:27, which enabled them to open a huge advantage over their Scandinavian counterparts, which was all but erased after another misstep, a 38:38 draw against Switzerland.

But Sweden, which won against Slovenia (35:31), failed to take advantage after a 32:32 shocking draw against Hungary, where they only managed to tie the match in the dying minutes, but did not have enough in the tank to snatch the win.

With both Iceland and Sweden tied on five points before the final day of the main round, Iceland won against Slovenia, 39:31, while Sweden beat Switzerland, 34:21, but it was too little, too late for the co-hosts in Malmö, with Iceland holding the tie-breaker and progressing in the semis for the first time in 16 years.

 

The two semi-finals of the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 will take place on Friday, 30 January, in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning. First, Germany will face Croatia, rekindling a big rivalry, as Croatia look for back-to-back appearances in the finals of major international competitions, while Germany can qualify for the last act of the EURO for the first time since winning the title in 2016.

Denmark take on Iceland, which have never played the final, while Denmark still keep their dream of holding all three major international trophies – the World Championship, the Olympic one and the continental title - at the same time.

The medal matches are scheduled in Herning on Sunday, 1 February.

Denmark’s Mathias Gidsel (54 goals) and Portugal’s Francisco Costa (54 goals each) are the current top scorers of the competition, with the two right backs also being the top two scorers of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship. Denmark’s left back Simon Pytlick is third in the top scorer standings, with 51 goals.

Another Denmark player, Emil Nielsen (69 saves) is the goalkeeper with the largest number of saves, for a 31,94% saving efficiency, while Iceland’s Viktor Gisli Hallgrímsson saved 66 shots for a 27,5% saving efficiency, followed by Andreas Wolff, Germany’s no.1 keeper, with 64 saves (32,16%).

With four spots available at the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 for the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship, the top four sides – the semi-finalists – have ensured safe passage to the competition. However, due to Denmark – the reigning world champions – and Germany – the hosts – being already qualified, the fifth and sixth-placed sides made it to the world handball flagship competition.

Therefore, Portugal and Sweden, which will face off in the Placement Match 5/6 on Friday, have ensured safe passage, and join Denmark, Germany, Iceland and Croatia between the qualified teams.

Photo credit: EHF / kolektiff / Jozo Cabraja / Eva Manhart