A decade after their last final, France will battle for the title at the EHF EURO again, after defeating Sweden 34:30 in extra time in the semi-final on Friday. Denmark have also not played a EHF EURO final since 2014, and their 32:41 loss to France in Herning; they last won the trophy in 2012 in Serbia.
These two teams are used to facing each other in big finals, as they did already last year at the World Championship. And Denmark then took the prize, beating France 34:29 to remain on top of the world. Whether they can also be on top of Europe on Sunday evening now remains to be seen.
FINAL
France vs Denmark
Sunday 28 January, 17:45 CET, live on EHFTV
- to qualify for the final, France beat Sweden 34:40 in extra time, after Elohim Prandi equalised the game at the end of normal time with a direct free throw
- Denmark deployed an effective seven-on-six attack in the second half of their semi-final against Germany to take a 29:26 victory after trailing by two goals at half-time
- France are the only team that has not been beaten since the beginning of the EHF EURO while Denmark were defeated 25:28 by Slovenia in the last game of the main round
- France and Denmark faced each other in the final of last year’s World Championship, with Denmark taking the title thanks to a 34:29 win
- both teams last played the EHF EURO final in 2014 in Herning, where France won the European title for the third time (41:32)
- France’s Dika Mem is currently the EHF EURO’s joint second best scorer, with 47 goals
- Mathias Gidsel has netted just one less for Denmark (46 goals), having sat out the last main round game
- French left back Nikola Karabatic is just five goals away from becoming the first male player to score 300 EHF EURO goals
- Danish left back Mikkel Hansen is in third place in the all-time EHF EURO scorer chart (287 goals), with one goal less than Iceland’s Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson
- Danish goalkeeper Emil Nielsen is the most effective shot-stopper at the EHF EURO, saving 63 shots at a rate of 40.1 per cent; Niklas Landin has added 47 saves (31.1 per cent)
- Samir Bellahcene has saved 54 shots for France in six matches (a 32.5 per cent efficiency), with Remi Desbonnet making 33 saves (26.2 per cent)
- France and Denmark played against each other six times at the EHF EURO: France won five games and Denmark just one, the bronze medal game in 2022 (35:32)
Photos © Kolektiff Images
They are a really good team, with a very strong pair of goalkeepers and an amazing offensive firepower. They have Mathias Gidsel, Mikkel Hansen and Simon Pytlick and also Rasmus Lauge Schmidt, who came out of nowhere to score 10 in the final last year against us. They are able to play in a lot of different ways offensively. But we have the capacity to beat them.
I’m expecting a great game. It will be a different game than yesterday. I think crucial for us will be if we can manage the big power and physicality that they bring, especially in attack, with the fast breaks and fast playing with some good shooting also. So it’s how we manage to play in defence, then we know we have two of the best goalkeepers in the world so if we can give them good conditions, we will have a good chance.
