Outstanding Knorr sends Germany to the semi-finals

EHF / Björn Pazen

28 January 2026, 19:45

Germany have made it to their seventh EHF EURO semi-final after an epic battle against France, while the defending champions conceded their second defeat in a row at the Men's EHF EURO 2026 .

The 38:34 victory was the first German success against France in an EHF EURO final tournament since 1998 — and the second one in history. 10 goals by Juri Knorr and some saves by Andreas Wolff in crunch time were essential. After Denmark, Germany, Iceland and Croatia complete the semi-finals line-up — and all three of them have Icelandic head coaches.

GROUP I

GERMANY vs FRANCE 38:34 (19:15)

H2H: 15-4-17
Top scorers: Juri Knorr 10/14 (GER); Dika Mem 11/15 (FRA)
Goalkeepers: David Späth 4/17, Andreas Wolff 4/25 (GER); Charles Bolzinger 0/7, Remi Desbonnet 10/41 (FRA)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Juri Knorr (GER)

a 4:0 run to 11:7 and six goals by Juri Knorr in 16 minutes were key for Germany to be ahead at the break, while on the other side Dika Mem almost scored half of the French goals
both teams counted on physically strong defences, but when Germany speeded up, there were quite many gaps in the French wall
after the break, Juri Knorr was still unstoppable, and his eighth of 10 strikes was Germany’s first five-goal advantage, at 21:16; at the other end of the court, goalkeeper David Späth was on fire, but only for a few minutes, before he was replaced by Andreas Wolff again
when France seemed to lose their pace, Remi Desbonnet became a crucial factor, boosting his side with many spectacular saves — and in minute 47, at 27:26 everything was open again
the epic battle was decided by a double-strike of Lukas Zerbe and Julian Köster for 36:32, after Wolff had saved two shots

Mem and Knorr deliver when it counts

There were many discussions about the performance levels of Juri Knorr and Dika Mem before the do-or-die battle of their teams. But when it counted, the prolific stars of Germany and France delivered.

In the previous games, both performed partly below par. “I don’t know why I am not performing, really not,” said Knorr before the match against Denmark. “You can always rely on me,” stated Mem, who was the most unlucky Frenchman in the last duel between the two, as his missed pass permitted Germany's goal at the final buzzer, which led to the overtime in the 2024 Olympic quarter-finals in Lille, won by the Germans.

Mem and Knorr highlighted their importance for their sides mainly in the first half on Wednesday: the French right back netted seven times then finished on 11 goals overall, while Knorr scored six from six before the break and added four more until the end.

We showed a significantly improved attacking performance, and in the decisive moments we were more clever both in defence and in attack. Every player was able to make his mark over the full 60 minutes.

Andreas Wolff

Goalkeeper, Germany

We missed some defensive efficiency, we missed some goalkeepers saves, and even though we managed to score, they created the gap. Of course, our second half was better, we had the balls to make the score even. But we did not score them. And at the end, we paid the bill.

Guillaume Gille

Head coach, France