Semi-final pairs set as Men's 20 EHF EURO 2024 main round concludes

• Semi-finals (Friday): Portugal - Germany; Denmark - Spain
• Portugal opened up the game with a 5:0 lead after six minutes and never looked back. Austria tried everything to make it interesting, but Portugal were too strong and once they established a 22:16 lead deep into the second half, it was all over (31:23)
• Spain's goalkeeper Pau Panitti Martinez celebrated his 20th birthday with a semi-final place after beating Iceland 37:30. After Iceland recovered from five goals down in the first half, slowly but surely Spain began to pull away again after the break, found their groove and Iceland simply could not keep up the same pace. Romero, Cikusa i Jelicic and Gonzalez combined for 28 goals
• Exciting Nordic derby went to Denmark who outplayed Norway 33:29. Having missed out on the opportunity to level the score midway through the second half, everything for Norway went downhill. Pedersen and Lykke impreesed with 19 goals altogether
• Sweden went goalless in the final six minutes and dropped a three-goal lead which propelled Germany into the semi-finals. It ended 27:27 after a terrific goal from Battermann, his only in the match
• France beat North Macedonia, but they both proceed to cross matches 9-12, just like Hungary and Croatia. Hungary won a point against Slovenia, while Croatia got the better of Serbia
• Faroe Islands finish elimination round group with a perfect record after beating Czechia, but they will both fight for places between 17th and 20th, along with Switzerland and Italy
• Israel grabbed their first win of the tournament, on the other hand Ukraine and Montenegro remain the only two teams without a point

A game of margins goes German way

As we reached the final main round day, group H offered an unusual situation. All four teams had the exact same number of points ahead of the final 60 minutes. No team was yet qualified at that point, but also no team was eliminated.

There were many scenarios in preparation, even the one where all teams remained with the same number of points after the final day too. That did not happen though, so calculations and combinations were not needed anymore, but nevertheless, the day produced high drama and most of all quality matches.

In group G it was pretty straightforward, with Portugal and Spain winning quite comfortably in the end, but in group H there was plenty of drama.

Firstly, Denmark took the Nordic derby and stayed in contention for their record-breaking fifth gold medal in the history of the Men's 20 EHF EURO. Then, it looked like Sweden were going to join them as goalkeeper Skoog sparked their turnaround in the second half. But Germany's relentlessness and resilience paid off in the best possible way for them - with a 3:0 run in the final six minutes. A point was all they needed to reach the semi-finals. They finished equal with Sweden on points, but have a better goal difference, by a single goal! The Swedes fell to the ground in disbelief.