2026 European Men's Handball Championship final

2026 European Men's Handball Championship final
	The Jyske Bank Boxen hosted the final.
Event	2026 European Men's Handball Championship
Date	25 January 2026
Venue	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning
Man of the Match	Kevin Møller
Referee	Ivan Pavićević; Miloš Ražnatović

The 2026 European Men's Handball Championship final was the final match of the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship, the 17th edition of the biannual continental tournament in men's national handball teams, organised by Europe's governing aquatics body, European Handball Federation. The match was played at Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark, on 1 February 2026, and was contested by co-hosts Denmark and Germany.^[1]^[2]

The tournament involved co-hosts Denmark, Norway and Sweden and 21 other teams. The 24 teams competed in a group stage, from which 12 teams qualified for the main round and 4 later advanced to the semifinals.

For Denmark, it is the fifth final and it is the fourth final for the Germans. This is the first time the two teams have met in a European Championship final, though it is not their first major final; they previously faced each other at the 2024 Olympic Games, where Denmark emerged victorious. Both sides had already met each other earlier in the tournament, with the Danes winning 31–26. Their last appearances for Denmark and Germany in the final were in 2024 and 2016 respectively.

Denmark won their third title after defeating Germany in the final.^[3]

Route to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.

Denmark

Round

Germany

Opponent

Result

Preliminary round

Opponent

Result

North Macedonia

36–24

Match 1

Austria

30–27

Romania

39–24

Match 2

Serbia

27–30

Portugal

29–31

Match 3

Spain

34–32

Group B placement

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Portugal	3	5
2	Denmark	3	4
3	North Macedonia	3	3
4	Romania	3	0

Source: EHF

Final standings

Group A placement

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Germany	3	4
2	Spain	3	4
3	Austria	3	2
4	Serbia	3	2

Source: EHF

Opponent

Result

Main round

Opponent

Result

France

32–29

Match 4

Portugal

32–30

Spain

36–31

Match 5

Norway

30–28

Germany

31–26

Match 6

Denmark

26–31

Norway

38–24

Match 7

France

38–34

Group I placement

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Denmark (H)	5	8
2	Germany	5	8
3	Portugal	5	5
4	France	5	4
5	Norway (H)	5	3
6	Spain	5	2

Source: EHF
(H) Hosts

Final standings

Group I placement

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Denmark (H)	5	8
2	Germany	5	8
3	Portugal	5	5
4	France	5	4
5	Norway (H)	5	3
6	Spain	5	2

Source: EHF
(H) Hosts

Opponent

Result

Knockout stage

Opponent

Result

Iceland

31–28

Semifinals

Croatia

31–28

Venue

The Jyske Bank Boxen hosted the final. This will be the second time they host the final, the first being in 2014.

Herning		Herning
		Jyske Bank Boxen
		Capacity: 15,000

Match

1 February 2026 18:00	Denmark	34–27	Germany	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 15,000 Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Pytlick 8	(18–16)	three players 5
	3×	Report	1× 3× 2×

Sources:^[4]^[5]

Denmark
Pos	Num	Player	Goals	Tot min	2 Min
RB	3	Niclas Kirkeløkke	2/3	35:10	1
LW	4	Magnus Landin	0	30:00	0
LW	7	Emil Jakobsen	3/6	29:02	0
CB	11	Rasmus Lauge	0/1	3:23	0
P	15	Magnus Saugstrup	1/1	60:00	0
RB	19	Mathias Gidsel	7/14	59:37	0
CB	22	Mads Mensah Larsen	0	9:20	0
P	25	Lukas Jørgensen	Inj
RW	26	Jóhan á Plógv Hansen	7/8	13:04	0
LB	28	Lasse Andersson	DNP
P	33	Emil Bergholt	NS
P	34	Simon Hald	NS
RB	38	Mads Hoxer	1/1	43:57	0
CB	42	Thomas Arnoldsen	5/6	40:37	1
LB	43	Simon Pytlick	8/12	34:12	1
RW	49	Frederik Bo Andersen	NS
CB	59	Mads Svane Knudsen	DNP
LB	64	Lasse Kjær Møller	DNP
Goalkeepers
Num	Player		Tot sav	Min	Goals
12	Emil Nielsen		7/19 (37%)	23:11	0
20	Kevin Møller		8/23 (35%)	32:27	0
Head coach
Nikolaj Jacobsen

Denmark	Statistics	Germany
34/52	Goals	27/46
4	Turnovers	9
31 sec	Avr Time Attack	39 sec
15/42	Tot sav	14/48

Timeouts
Team	1st	2nd
Denmark	1	1
Germany	1	1

Germany
Pos	Num	Player	Goals	Tot min	2 Min
CB	3	Nils Lichtlein	2/3	5:07
P	4	Johannes Golla	0	47:49	1
LB	5	Miro Schluroff	DNP
LB	13	Matthes Langhoff	0	24:17	0
RW	14	Mathis Häseler	NS
CB	14	Juri Knorr	5/11	33:24	0
RW	17	Lukas Zerbe	2/3	55:04	0
LB	18	Julian Köster	4/7	47:05	0
RB	23	Renārs Uščins	2/7	26:01	0
CB	30	Tom Kiesler	0	5:17	1
RB	32	Franz Semper	1/2	16:13	0
LW	34	Rune Dahmke	DNP
LW	36	Lukas Mertens	1/1	46:21	0
54	P	Justus Fischer	NS
LB	71	Marko Grgić	5/6	46:21	1
P	80	Jannik Kohlbacher	0/1	31:46	0
Goalkeepers
Num	Player		Tot sav	Min	Goals
1	David Späth		0/2 (0%)	1:47	0
33	Andreas Wolff		14/45 (31%)	52:22	0
Head coach
Alfreð Gíslason

Reserve referees:
Bojan Lah
David Sok
EHF Observer:
Øyvind Togstad
EHF Supervisor:
Denis Reibel
Timekeeper:
Svend Zachariassen
Scorekeeper:
Ernst Hoehrmann

Match rules

Two halves of 30 minutes (60 minutes in total).
10 minutes of extra time if necessary.
A second 10 minutes of extra time if necessary.
Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.

Squads

Denmark

No.	Pos.	Name	Date of birth (age)	Height	App.	Goals	Club
49	RW	Frederik Bo Andersen	(1998-12-09)9 December 1998 (aged 27)	1.86 m	3	5	HSV Hamburg
28	LB	Lasse Andersson	(1994-03-11)11 March 1994 (aged 31)	1.96 m	86	122	Füchse Berlin
33	P	Emil Bergholt	(1997-08-25)25 August 1997 (aged 28)	1.90 m	23	13	Skjern Håndbold
19	RB	Mathias Gidsel	(1999-02-08)8 February 1999 (aged 26)	1.90 m	95	578	Füchse Berlin
38	RB	Mads Hoxer	(2000-12-06)6 December 2000 (aged 25)	1.95 m	10	24	Aalborg Håndbold
26	RW	Jóhan á Plógv Hansen	(1994-05-01)1 May 1994 (aged 31)	1.90 m	109	195	Skanderborg Aarhus Håndbold
7	LW	Emil Jakobsen	(1998-01-24)24 January 1998 (aged 27)	1.90 m	100	359	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
34	P	Simon Hald	(1994-09-28)28 September 1994 (aged 31)	2.03 m	112	116	Aalborg Håndbold
25	P	Lukas Jørgensen^[a]	(1999-03-31)31 March 1999 (aged 26)	1.94 m	61	174	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
3	RB	Niclas Kirkeløkke	(1994-03-26)26 March 1994 (aged 31)	1.95 m	107	202	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
59	CB	Mads Svane Knudsen	(2002-03-25)25 March 2002 (aged 23)	1.85 m	0	0	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg
4	LW	Magnus Landin	(1995-08-20)20 August 1995 (aged 30)	2.00 m	161	296	THW Kiel
11	CB	Rasmus Lauge	(1991-06-20)20 June 1991 (aged 34)	1.95 m	184	465	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg
22	CB	Mads Mensah Larsen	(1991-08-12)12 August 1991 (aged 34)	1.88 m	216	338	Skjern Håndbold
20	GK	Kevin Møller	(1989-06-20)20 June 1989 (aged 36)	2.00 m	94	7	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
64	LB	Lasse Kjær Møller	(1996-06-11)11 June 1996 (aged 29)	1.99 m	19	22	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
12	GK	Emil Nielsen	(1997-03-10)10 March 1997 (aged 28)	1.95 m	68	6	FC Barcelona
43	LB	Simon Pytlick	(2000-12-11)11 December 2000 (aged 25)	1.93 m	60	278	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
15	P	Magnus Saugstrup (c)	(1996-07-12)12 July 1996 (aged 29)	1.95 m	105	205	SC Magdeburg

Germany

No.	Pos.	Name	Date of birth (age)	Height	App.	Goals	Club
34	LW	Rune Dahmke	(1993-04-10)10 April 1993 (aged 32)	1.89 m	94	137	THW Kiel
54	P	Justus Fischer	(2003-02-06)6 February 2003 (aged 22)	1.93 m	32	40	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
4	P	Johannes Golla (c)	(1997-11-05)5 November 1997 (aged 28)	1.95 m	106	370	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
71	LB	Marko Grgic	(2003-09-11)11 September 2003 (aged 22)	1.98 m	29	88	SG Flensburg-Handewitt
14	RW	Mathis Häseler	(2002-06-25)25 June 2002 (aged 23)	1.90 m	4	7	VfL Gummersbach
30	CB	Tom Kiesler	(2001-04-24)24 April 2001 (aged 24)	1.93 m	2	0	VfL Gummersbach
15	CB	Juri Knorr	(2000-05-09)9 May 2000 (aged 25)	1.94 m	81	311	Aalborg Håndbold
80	P	Jannik Kohlbacher	(1995-07-19)19 July 1995 (aged 30)	1.90 m	126	239	Rhein-Neckar Löwen
18	LB	Julian Köster	(2000-03-16)16 March 2000 (aged 25)	2.03 m	73	192	VfL Gummersbach
13	LB	Matthes Langhoff	(2002-03-30)30 March 2002 (aged 23)	1.93 m	1	1	Füchse Berlin
3	CB	Nils Lichtlein	(2002-07-31)31 July 2002 (aged 23)	1.83 m	29	32	Füchse Berlin
36	LW	Lukas Mertens	(1996-03-22)22 March 1996 (aged 29)	1.82 m	68	151	SC Magdeburg
5	LB	Miro Schluroff	(2000-04-25)25 April 2000 (aged 25)	1.98 m	6	13	VfL Gummersbach
32	RB	Franz Semper	(1997-07-05)5 July 1997 (aged 28)	1.91 m	28	59	SC DHfK Leipzig
1	GK	David Späth	(2002-04-29)29 April 2002 (aged 23)	2.00 m	44	3	Rhein-Neckar Löwen
23	RB	Renārs Uščins	(2002-04-29)29 April 2002 (aged 23)	1.89 m	43	172	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
33	GK	Andreas Wolff	(1991-03-03)3 March 1991 (aged 34)	1.98 m	185	15	THW Kiel
17	RW	Lukas Zerbe	(1996-01-17)17 January 1996 (aged 29)	1.84 m	45	98	THW Kiel

Notes

^ Replaced by Thomas Arnoldsen from the main round onwards.

References

^ Bagger, AfOliver Bilberg RavnSebastian Taarsted (January 30, 2026). "Hård fight og fleksede muskler sender Danmark i EM-finalen". DR.
^ "Deutsche Handballer erreichen das EM-Finale". ZDFheute. January 30, 2026.
^ "After 14 years, Denmark are EHF EURO champions again". www.eurohandball.com.
^ "Statistics report".
^ "Match report".

External links

Official website

[6] Replaced by Thomas Arnoldsen from the main round onwards.

[1] Bagger, AfOliver Bilberg RavnSebastian Taarsted (January 30, 2026). "Hård fight og fleksede muskler sender Danmark i EM-finalen". DR.

[2] "Deutsche Handballer erreichen das EM-Finale". ZDFheute. January 30, 2026.

[3] "After 14 years, Denmark are EHF EURO champions again". www.eurohandball.com.

[4] "Statistics report".

[5] "Match report".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[a]

2026 European Men's Handball Championship
General	Squads Qualification Final
Venues	Unity Arena (Bærum) Jyske Bank Boxen (Herning) Kristianstad Arena (Kristianstad) Malmö Arena (Malmö)
Teams	Austria Croatia Czech Republic Denmark (Co-hosts) Faroe Islands France Georgia Germany Hungary Iceland Italy Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway (Co-hosts) Poland Portugal Romania Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden (Co-hosts) Switzerland Ukraine