Norway had secured first place in group II on the previous main round day, Monday, thanks to their perfect record of wins so far at the EHF EURO 2024. The results up to Wednesday’s games left Denmark and the Netherlands in a direct encounter to decide the semi-final spot, and it was the Scandinavian side who clinched it after leading throughout the match.
Denmark have now booked a semi-final clash with current world champions France, while Norway will play Hungary. After ranking sixth at both the 2022 and 2020 editions of the EHF EURO, the Netherlands will play the 5/6 placement match for the third straight time, meeting Sweden.
GROUP II
Denmark vs Netherlands 30:26 (15:13)
- after 1:1, the score was only level once, at 8:8 in the 17th minute; aside from that, Denmark were always in the lead, with their advantage stretching as clear as three goals multiple times in the first half and growing through the last quarter of the match
- Denmark goalkeeper Anna Kristensen had a significant influence, with 10 saves at a rate of 48 per cent in the first half and a total of 16 at 39 per cent
- the Netherlands replaced Yara ten Holte with Rinka Duijndam in goal in the 21st minute, when Kristensen counted seven saves to ten Holte’s two; at that point, Denmark’s attack was dominated by three players with three goals apiece — backs Anne Mette Hansen and Michala Møller and right wing Trine Østergaard
- right back Dione Housheer, who received the Grundfos Player of the Match award, scored 10 goals from as many attempts and mostly found that success on breakthroughs; aside from that, the Netherlands had trouble against Denmark’s 6-0 defence and Kristensen
- although they came within one goal three times in the opening five minutes of the second half, the last time the Netherlands were that close was at 18:17 in the 36th, after which Denmark pulled away and kept comfortably in front to the buzzer
Denmark secure fifth straight semi-final
After being a powerhouse in women’s handball in the 1990s and early 2000s, Denmark had sporadic appearances among the top teams across the three major tournaments — the EHF EURO, the World Championship and the Olympic Games. After clinching bronze at the 2013 World Championship, the Scandinavian side reached the EHF EURO semi-finals twice — in 2016 and 2020 — but took no silverware until ending the drought at the 2021 World Championship, when they claimed third again.
Since then, Denmark have been consistent, taking a medal at every tournament. At the EHF EURO 2022, they were the runners-up. At the 2023 World Championship and 2024 Olympic Games they celebrated bronze medals.
Now, Denmark have qualified for their fifth consecutive semi-final and sixth in the last seven events — the only time they missed the top four in recent years was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, for which they did not qualify. Overall, the EHF EURO 2024 semi-final will be Denmark’s 10th in the competition and third in a row at the European championship.
The job we have been doing in the last two days inside the team has been amazing. The players and the staff really deserve a lot of credit for this performance today. Of course, the goalkeeper (Anna Kristensen) was really strong and the defence was strong and I actually think that the four-goal advantage didn't show the right picture. I think we were the better team today.
We missed some crucial chances where it was, I think, 19:18, so there we had some really good chances that we missed and then I think you could see the energy was a bit out of the team. Anna Kristensen really played amazing and then it makes it really hard because I felt we were playing the right things in attack, but if we missed then you start to doubt yourself. It was really good from her, but I feel bad for us that we didn't reward ourselves more.
