The team was proclaimed European champion this Sunday by beating Germany 34-27. The hosts have won their third European Championship in front of their fans at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning. The Danes take revenge for the lost final against France in 2024 and win their third continental gold, 14 years after the last one won in 2012. They won their first in 2008.
The Danes thus become the second team capable of dominating the three major tournaments at the same time: World Cup, European and Olympic Games, as France did in 2010. And twice Olympic, they prevented the third European title from a Germany that was in tow throughout the final. Mathias Gidsel, MVP of the tournament and top scorer, led Denmark along with Simon Pytlick (8 goals) and Johan Hansen (7), with goalkeepers Emil Nielsen and Kevin Moller also leaving their mark. The Flensburg goalkeeper, who replaced Emil Nielsen with ten minutes remaining in the first period, who did not reach his usual level of excellence in the final, replicated each save by the German Andreas Wolff, whose performance did not disappoint either, with a timely intervention. However, the German attack did not have as many options against the host defense, as happened six days earlier in the duel between both teams in the Main Round (26-31).
Croatia wins bronze
The Croatian team won the bronze medal after beating Iceland 33-34 this Sunday, in a match that the Balkans, current world runners-up, seemed to have concluded with ten minutes remaining. Nothing could be further from the truth, since Iceland, led by a spectacular Omar Ingi Magnusson, who did not miss a single one of the twelve shots he attempted in the match, was just one goal away (32-33) with just over a minute remaining. But center back Tim Lucin, the Croatians’ top scorer with nine goals, was not willing to let anything keep him from the podium and, with a new assist, the ninth of the match, he allowed Filip Glavas to make it 32-34 that ended the Icelandic dream.
