France and Germany to battle for the semi-final

GROUP I

Spain vs Portugal

Wednesday 28 January, 15:30 CET, live on EHFTV

H2H: 11-0-1

• after losing three consecutive matches against Germany, Norway and Denmark, Spain beat France on Monday 36:32 to gain their first two points
• if Spain beat Portugal, and later Norway and France lose, Jordi Ribera’s team will play for fifth place
• Portugal are on three points after a draw against Norway and defeat by Germany and France; they need a clear win to remain in the race for the 5/6 placement match
• at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, a 35:28 win against Spain was crucial for Portugal on their way to the semi-finals; this was their first victory over their Iberian neighbours in history
• Portuguese right back Francisco Costa is level with Dane Mathias Gidsel in the overall scorer list with 47 goals; Aleix Gómez is Spain’s best scorer with 27 strikes
• if Spain win, it would be their 80th EHF EURO victory — they have participated in all 17 editions of the tournament

Germany vs France

Wednesday 28 January, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

H2H: 14-4-17

• Germany are currently second in the group, tied with Denmark on six points but having lost against the Danes on Monday (26:31)
• France are third, two points behind, after their loss against Spain (32:36) in round 3 of the main round
• the winner of this game will proceed to the final weekend, along with Denmark; Germany will progress if the result is a draw
• Germany’s best scorer, Renārs Uščins, has scored 32 goals since the beginning of the tournament, while Dylan Nahi is the French best scorer, on 25 goals
• with 233 goals scored in six matches (38.8 on average), France have the best attack in the tournament; Germany’s 179 goals scored (29.8 on average) make them the least effective in offence
• the two teams have not played against each other since the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics Games, where Germany beat France 35:34 after overtime

Denmark vs Norway

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

H2H: 16-1-1

• Denmark took their third win in the main round with a 31:26 victory against Germany to qualify for the semi-finals
• Norway have three points from the win against Spain and the draw against Portugal on their account, and need at least one more point to play for fifth place, depending on the result of the Spain vs Portugal match
• Denmark beat Norway twice in Herning in 2019 on their way to their first of their four straight World Championship trophies; more recently, Denmark beat Norway 29:23 in the EHF EURO 2024 preliminary round and 32:25 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
• Norway have beaten Denmark just once in an official match, at the EHF EURO 2008 in the preliminary round (27:26)
• Mathias Gidsel, who was the top joint top scorer of the EHF EURO 2024 with Martim Costa, is now joint top scorer with Francisco Costa on 47 goals; August Pedersen has netted 43 times for Norway

Photos © kolektiff images