Men's 20 EHF EURO semi-final line-up confirmed; Sweden remain unbeaten

• Sweden remained the only unbeaten team in the competition, after their 11-goal win against France earlier in the day. They will meet their Scandinavian neighbours, Denmark, in the first semi-final on Friday, 17 July 
• Slovenia and Hungary, two teams that booked their quarter-final appearances as the two best third-ranked teams, made sure these tickets would not go in vain; Slovenia delivered a masterclass against Spain, while Hungary snatched a last-minute win against Germany
• The two teams will meet in the second semi-final, marking this as the second neighbour clash on Friday
• It was a goalkeeper show on Thursday afternoon, as Sweden's Viggo Håkansson saved 22, Slovenia's Matevž Mlakar 16 and Hungary's Ádám Kristóf Balogh 11 shots, proving they were the key ingredients of their team's success 
• The top scorer race is still ongoing, with Latvia's Valdis Kalnins as the leader after netting 73 times and Switzerland's Tiago Cuencas with 56 goals
• The eight quarter-finalists have already booked their place for the 26th IHF Men's Junior (U21) World Championship in 2027, held in North Macedonia next summer. Seven remaining spots will be confirmed with the conclusion of the cross matches, as there are 15 places in total up for grabs

QUARTER-FINALS

Switzerland vs Denmark 29:36 (14:16)

Top scorers: Moritz Heinl 7/9 (SUI), Tiago Cuencas 7/13 (SUI), Simon Kristensen 6/7 (DEN)
Players of the Match: Tiago Cuencas (SUI), Hjalte Langmack (DEN)

Switzerland and Denmark provided a bit more drama on court compared to the quarter-final match between Sweden and France played simultaneously. The Swiss were chasing the Danes from the early start, but Denmark managed to keep the advantage for most of the first half, with a few crucial saves from Lino Schneider and used almost every chance created. Switzerland was three goals behind several times in the last 10 minutes of the first half, managed to come closer every time, but were missing a bit of focus to finish ahead of Denmark. In the second half, Denmark continued with a confident performance and started building the lead, with the Swiss missing out as the minutes were going by. In the end, Denmark booked their semi-final appearance with a seven-goal lead (36:29). 

Sweden vs France 39:28 (21:10)

Top scorers: Måns Fredriksson 6/6 (SWE), Liam Hultberg 7/13 (SWE), Alexandre Baradat 5/6 (FRA), Théo Ducap 5/6 (FRA)
Players of the Match: Viggo Håkansson (SWE), Alexandre Baradat (FRA)

From the fifth minute of the match, Sweden slowly started to build on their advantage with a top-notch defence, led by Viggo Håkansson. France simply couldn't find the solutions either for the defence on the six-metre line, nor for the Swedish goalie. Håkansson ended the first half with 13 saves and 56.52 per cent save efficiency. This resulted in France netting only 10 times before the break, and allowed Sweden to build on an 11-goal advantage at the start of the second half. The break came in handy to France, as they looked more confident in the second half and scored 18 more by the end of the match. However, this wasn't enough with the lead that Sweden created in the first 30 minutes as they went to book their spot in the quarter-finals. Håkansson ended the match with 22 saves and 53.66 per cent save efficiency, which earned him the Player of the Match award. 

Spain vs Slovenia 23:30 (13:15)

Top scorers: Alejandro Colón Martín 4/5 (ESP), Marcos Fis 4/11 (ESP), Aljuš Anžic 10/13 (SLO) 
Players of the Match: Guido Bayo (ESP), Matevž Mlakar (SLO)

The two teams started the match with high intensity, playing fast attacks and scoring one after the other. 12 minutes into the first half, two steals and a goal from Spain’s Sergio Sanchez gave 'Hispanos' a two-goal advantage, which they kept for a few minutes. Slovenians went on to level the game in the next 10 minutes, thanks to a few crucial saves of Matevž Mlakar, including a penalty shot executed by Marcos Fis. Mlakar continued delivering a save after a save in the second half, making it extremely difficult for Spain. Slovenia looked more confident, stopping Spain's attack and slowly building a lead, which the 2024 champions couldn't catch, losing the match with a seven-goal difference after 16 saves from Mlakar. Seems like this quarter-final was somewhat a redemption for Slovenia, after they finished as one of the two best third-ranked teams in the main round — and they have settled the score! 

Germany vs Hungary 25:27 (13:15)

Top scorers: Tom Koschek 8/11 (GER), Máté Fazekas 6/7 (HUN) 
Players of the Match: Tom Koschek (GER), Ádám Kristóf Balogh (HUN)

Strong defensive performance at the start of the match between Germany and Hungary, led by the middle block with Tom Wolf and Rasmus Ankermann on the German side and Máté Mészáros-Ádám Horváth-Garaba duo on the Hungarian side, hinted at an exciting duel ahead. In the 11th minute of the game, the score stood at 6:6 and did not change for the next five minutes, when the goal silence was broken by Tom Koschek from the penalty line. The low-scoring half continued, with Hungary slowly building on their attack, taking over the lead in the 28th minute and taking a break with a two-goal lead (15:13). At the start of the second half, Hungary went on a 5-0 lead (19:14), but Germany did not blink as they managed to make the same in return, levelling the result to 19:19 in 43rd minute. From that moment on, it was full drama in Turda all the way to the last 30 seconds of the game and a one-goal lead for Hungary (26:25). Germany had the ball, but Ádám Kristóf Balogh stopped the shot, and Máté Fazekas went to score the buzzer-beater. 

Main image: Simion Sebastian Tataru / FRH