Thanks to a 31:28 victory over Croatia, Germany has reached the final of the European Handball Championship for the first time since 2016. Denmark and Iceland will contest the second semi-final.
30.01.2026, 19:36
30.01.2026, 19:53
SDA
The last time the Germans reached a European Championship final ten years ago, their coach was Dagur Sigurdsson. The Icelander is now in charge of the Croatians, which made the semi-final even more explosive.
The game in Herning was evenly poised up to 17:16 (32'), before the Germans pulled away to 22:16 (38'). They even led by seven goals on three occasions - most recently in the 43rd minute at 26:19. However, the Croatians did not give up and reduced the deficit to 28:30 with 73 seconds to go, but Renars Uscins then made it 31:28. The Germans made the difference in goal: While Andreas Wolff saved 13 shots, the two Croatian keepers Dominik Kuzmanovic (7) and Matej Mandic (1) only made eight saves between them.
Despite the defeat, the morale of the Croatians must be rated highly, as they had a much more intense program. They played their last two main round games on Tuesday and Wednesday and had to travel from Malmö to Denmark on Thursday. Germany, on the other hand, played on Monday and Wednesday in Herning.
