Four teams battle for a spot in Men’s EHF EURO 2026 final

Stat of the day (by Julian Rux):

Even though he is actually a back-court player that Nikolaj Jacobsen has retrained as a wing, Niclas Kirkeløkke has the highest scoring percentage on wing shots among the 25 players that took 10 or more wing shots with 92.9 per cent.

SEMI-FINALS

Germany vs Croatia

Friday 28 January, 17:45 CET, live on EHFTV

H2H: 3-1-11

• thanks to their close 27:25 win over Hungary on the final main round match day, Croatia won group II in Malmö, while Germany finished second below Denmark in group I after their 38:34 victory against France
• it is the 10th EHF EURO semi-final participation for Croatia, who were finalists in 2008, 2010 and 2020, but never won gold; for Germany it is the seventh EHF EURO semi-final and they won the trophy in 2004 and 2016
• Croatia and Germany have met six times at EHF EURO events, with five wins for the Croatians (including in the 2024 main round in Cologne) and only one for Germany, in 2002
• head coaches Alfred Gislason (Germany) and Dagur Sigurdsson (Croatia) are both Icelandic – and even played together for the national team
• ahead of the EHF EURO, Germany beat Croatia 32:29 and 33:27 in test matches in Zagreb and Hanover, respectively; these were Gislason’s first ever victories against Croatia as Germany head coach after four straight defeats in four different competitions
• Sigurdsson steered Germany to their second and last EHF EURO trophy in 2016 and three players from that team are still in the squad: Andreas Wolff, Jannick Kohlbacher and Rune Dahmke
• the top scorers for the two sides are Renārs Uščins with 37 strikes for Germany and  Ivan Martinović with 30 for Croatia
• five players from the Croatian squad, including both goalkeepers Dominik Kuzmanović and Matej Mandić, play for German clubs

Denmark vs Iceland

Friday 28 January, 20:30 CET, live on EHFTV

H2H: 14-3-6

• Denmark finished first in group I, with eight points and only one defeat, in the preliminary round against Portugal (29:31)
• Iceland finished second in group II, gathering seven points and finishing level with Sweden, but ahead of them thanks to a 35:27 win in the direct confrontation
• Iceland have not played a EHF EURO semi-final since 2010, when they lost against France in Vienna (28:36)
• the two teams have the most prolific goalkeepers in the competition: Denmark’s Emil Nielsen is first with 69 saves (31.9 per cent), Iceland’s Viktor Hallgrímsson is second with 66 (27.6 per cent)
• Danish right back Mathias Gidsel is the joint best scorer of the competition so far, with 54 goals, alongside Portugal’s Francisco Costa; Ómar Ingi Magnússon has scored 51 for Iceland
• Denmark and Iceland last faced each other in international competitions at the EHF EURO 2022, where Denmark took the points in the preliminary round (28:24)
• Denmark already played 10 times in the EHF EURO semi-final and won the competition twice, Iceland only played twice in the semi-final

5/6 PLACEMENT MATCH

Portugal vs Sweden

Friday 28 January, 15:00 CET, live on EHFTV

H2H: 1-1-7

• Portugal finished third in group I, with five games, after winning the decisive game on Wednesday against Spain (35:27)
• Sweden also finished third, but in group II, taking seven points but finishing behind Iceland due to a 27:35 defeat in the direct confrontation
• both teams are already qualified for the 2027 World Championship, as they are among the four best-ranked teams after tournament hosts Germany and titleholders Denmark
• Portugal right back Francisco Costa is the current best scorer of the tournament, with 54 goals, tied at the top with Mathias Gidsel
• Felix Claar, Sweden’s best scorer, has netted 33 times across the first seven games of the competition
• the last time the two teams played against each other was in the 2025 World Championship main round, when the game ended in a 37:37 draw

Photos © kolektiff images