The final day of Algeria 2017 starts later this morning (10:30 local time) with Russia and Tunisia battling for 7/8th spot, while Hungary and FYR Macedonia play in the following game for 5/6th place.
The Halle Omnisport Harcha Hocine then switches its attention to the bronze medal and final matches this evening as Algeria 2017 comes to an end with a closing show and medal ceremonies.
All matches on the final day of Algeria 2017 will be streamed live and free online, click HERE to watch.
For IHF official nominations click HERE.
Placement Match 5/6: FYR Macedonia vs Hungary 13:00 (local time)
Since their impressive bronze medal in 2005 on home soil in this competition (their best-ever result at this level was silver in 1977), Hungary only qualified twice in the next five editions, with 12th as high as they could get, so whatever the result today will represent their best finish for 12 years.
Playmaker Mátyás Győri is Hungary's top-scorer in Algeria with 47 goals and has also played for the senior team, scoring 10 in their last Men’s EHF EURO 2018 qualifying match, back in June, at home against Netherlands.
He is backed up by the impressive left back Patrik Ligetvári who has scored 32 goals and has bundles of experience, with the Telekom Veszprém player playing over three hours in a defensive-specialist role for the Hungarians at the 2017 IHF Men’s World Championship in France.
Despite all of this strength for Hungary, the Macedonians are in uncharted territory, with no handball side from the country ever reaching the final eight of a world championship, so Ile Temelkovski's side will be eager to finish as high as they can.
Leading them their are a pair of left back Filips. Filip Taleski is their top-scorer on 37 goals, while the other Filip, Kuzmanovski (29 goals) is the very local leader of his side. Right back Martin Velkovski also has a habit of chipping in with goals at important times and today, the whole 60 minutes will be an important, and historic time, for the Macedonians.
Placement Match 7/8: Russia vs Tunisia 10:30 (local time)
Exactly a week ago these two teams played out a thrilling 29:29 (15:14) draw as they could not be separated in their Preliminary Group C match which could have seen either side win, lose or draw, such was the back and forwards nature of the clash.
But with that result, the north Africans sealed their qualification through to the eighth-finals thanks to 12 strikes from Skander Zaied, including the last three for his side.
The final 120 seconds were full of tension and stress for both teams as Russia equalised with 15 seconds left and despite a time out from Tunisia coach Mohamed Ali Sghir, Zaied, of all players, misjudged his pass soon after and threw the ball out of bounds with a pass and the buzzer went.
Russia coach Stepan Sidorchuk was the happier of the two coaches with the result, praising the strength of his opponents. “They are African champions, and all champions are strong teams,” he said after the match.
However, a lot has happened in a week - after their impressive 34:25 eighth-finals win over Croatia, Russia fell away against Denmark in the quarter-finals, losing 38:31 and then an ill-disciplined display against the Macedonians yesterday saw two red cards and a nine-goal loss (36:27).
Dimitrii Santalov (42 goals) remains Russia's top marksman, while Zaied (68) is clearly Tunisia's top striker - and the tournament top scorer, three ahead of Lasse Moeller who plays for Denmark in the final later today.
While Zaied will be on a personal mission to finish as the top hitman, his Tunisian side could still be thinking about the lead they lost against Hungary yesterday in the first day of the Placement Round 5-8. With 10 minutes left they were ahead by two goals (27:25), but let it slip in the final moments to go down 34:30.
Position 7 or 8 will be Tunisia's best result at this competition since 2011 (3rd), while for Russia it will be their best finish since 2001 (1st).