At the Unity Arena in Bærum, a few kilometres from Oslo, 13,500 people witnessed Denmark‘s triumph: it was the fourth consecutive World Cup for this extraordinary national team, which had never won it before 2019. For Croatia, beaten 32-26, the strength of mind that had enabled them to pull off three feats against Iceland, Hungary and France in Zagreb was not enough: no miracle in the face of a Denmark team that had reached the last act playing a handball that seemed to come from another planet. The final saw them immediately attempt to escape (4-1 at the 10 o’clock mark), which had to be postponed because Croatia came back to within one (8-7 at the 20 o’clock mark) with Martinovic’s hits (6 out of 10). The central part of the match was an absolute monopoly for Denmark and their most valuable pieces, goalkeeper Nielsen (38% saves) and the deadly full-back Mathias Gidsel (10 out of 11 for the MVP of the tournament), until the gap reached ten goals (24-14 at the 40th minute). Who’s gonna stop Denmark? Let’s wait and see…
Held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway from 14 January to 2 February, the 2025 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship was the 29th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. This edition marked the first time the world championship was held in three countries (Norway, Denmark and Croatia): the ‘Jyske Bank Boxen’ in Herning (Denmark) and the ‘Unity Arena’ in Bærum (Norway) were the only Scandinavian venues for the competition. Of the 32 qualified teams, 4 were from the Nordics: Denmark (triple defending World Champions, having won the 2019, 2021 and 2023 editions) and Norway (co-hosts), Iceland and Sweden.
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