Romania book last EHF EURO Cup semi-final ticket in style
With a big 38:34 win in Poland, Romania secured the last spot at the final tournament of the Women’s EHF EURO Cup 2026 after Hungary had finished second in group 2 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, group winners Denmark and Norway both finished with a clean record of six victories. The highlight of the final round was the huge celebration for Katrine Lunde; the Norwegian goalkeeping legend played had her last international match in her home town Kristiansand, winning 38:19 against Slovakia.
I had a lot of nerves and emotions leading up to this match, and I was a little nervous before playing. But it was great when I could sit down and enjoy the rest of the game from the bench. It has been really nice to be able to end my career here at my home ground in Aquarama with family and good friends present.
We congratulate Katrine Lunde on her career and we are happy that we could be there for her farewell. We had the privilege of playing against the best team in the world in a fantastic atmosphere.
Today’s game shows that we score a lot of goals. We have quick feet in our attacking play. As a coach, you might feel that we’re conceding a few too many goals, but on the other hand, the Turks also get a lot of attacks because we ourselves are strong on the counter. Today, some players are getting important minutes on the national team, which we can definitely use as we look ahead to a championship.
We have to improve a lot. We have to run faster back home, for sure. We have to play faster in attack. Everything has to work much better to reach this high level and to play these big tournaments. But this is the way that we are now, and I think that really my players today, they tried everything. It's true that we have many things to do, much better, but I think that we are in a good process.
The result reflects the fact that the defense on both sides was not particularly strong. The opening minutes were unsuccessful for us, as the Romanian goalkeeper performed very well and we struggled to find our rhythm in shooting. This had a significant impact on the final result.
I’m very happy about the victory, because it is a good reaction after the last time with Norway. It was a difficult week for us, but today the girls gave 100 per cent and showed the heart and character of Romania. We played well in defence and the goalkeeper saved many balls in the important moments.
