Denmark have won four medals in the last three years, but they have not taken a trophy since the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, and now aim to end a 20-year wait in what will be a rematch of the EHF EURO 2022 final.
France will play Hungary for third place at the EHF EURO 2024 to open the final day on Sunday.
SEMI-FINAL
France vs Denmark 22:24 (11:13)
- with both teams boasting exceptional goalkeeper duos, the match looked to promise a great battle between the posts, and it took three minutes for the first goal to be scored off a penalty as Denmark’s Anna Kristensen and France’s Laura Glauser delivered early on
- Glauser’s saves dropped off as Kristensen outshone her counterpart with six saves at 35 per cent in the first half and went on to a tally of 16 at 43 per cent, earning the Grundfos Player of the Match award
- the score was level three times in the first quarter of the game, including when France back Grace Zaadi Deuna struck for 4:4 in the 11th minute, scoring what was her 100th goal at the EHF EURO, but Denmark always had the edge and stretched their advantage to three twice as the break approached
- France levelled the game at 14:14 in the 40th but then could not score for eight minutes, allowing Denmark to open a clear gap; by the time Estelle Nze Minko ended the scoring drought for France, Denmark had hit 20 goals and so led by five
- Hatadou Sako came into France’s goal for the second period and recorded a rate of 43 per cent but was replaced by Glauser as the final quarter of the match began; however, France’s defence simply could never contain Denmark’s attack and overcome Kristensen’s saves at the other end
Denmark set for sixth EURO final against Norway
While Norway have since become the dominant powerhouse in the Women’s EHF EURO, the early years of the event saw them share the spotlight with Denmark, as the two teams met in four of the first six finals in the event.
Denmark took the first trophy up for grabs in 1994, beating Germany, then defended the title in 1996, facing Norway for the first time in the trophy game. In 1998, Norway came out on top of the final against Denmark, claiming their first of nine EURO titles. In 2002, Denmark celebrated their third — and most recent — trophy in the event, overcoming Norway in the final. And then Norway turned the tables in the 2004 final.
From 2006 to 2020, Norway won six finals against five different nations — Russia in 2006, Spain in 2008 and 2014, Sweden in 2010, the Netherlands in 2016 and France in 2020. And then came Denmark again, who made it to their first final since the 2004 Olympic Games when they beat Montenegro in the penultimate match at the EHF EURO 2022. Norway were the victors in the 2022 final, 27:25. Which team will win the battle of Scandinavian handball giants in 2024?
I think we missed a lot of key moments tonight. We also missed a lot of shots. Their goalkeeper had, I think, 43 per cent saves, 16 saves, and it’s a lot. And in this kind of game it’s very hard to win with those kinds of mistakes. I am very disappointed because we were not able to put all our aggression into it to do so.
We knew we had two key moments: to run fast home when we lose the ball, and I think that was magnificent. And when they tried to change the rhythm, we tried to give them answers. They went very offensive in the last period, we still managed to pull some great chances, but Laura Glauser is a great goalkeeper and she held us back for a long time.
