All three of the medals at the
Men’s U18 EHF EURO were won by north-western nations, with Sweden claiming their
second title after defeating Iceland in the final, while Denmark beat hosts
Croatia to take bronze. Sweden’s trophy came 21 years after the Scandinavian
nation won their first title in the event, in 1997.
The final was a rematch of the
preliminary round encounter between Iceland and Sweden, which Iceland won 29:24
on their way to first place in Group D. Sweden finished second thanks to
victories over the other group opponents: Slovenia and Poland. In the main
round, Sweden beat both Spain and Germany, while Iceland defeated Germany but recorded
a six-goal loss at the hands of Spain. Iceland therefore topped Group 2, with
Sweden in second, and both squads qualified for the semi-finals.
Denmark made their way to the
semi-finals through preliminary round Group B, where they beat France, Norway
and Romania to finish with the maximum points. Croatia also took three straight
wins in the preliminary round, against Serbia, Portugal and Israel. Croatia and
Denmark played in the same main round group, with Denmark defeating Serbia and
Croatia winning against France in that stage. In their mutual encounter,
Denmark took a two-goal victory over Croatia.
Sweden therefore met top-ranked
Group 1 side Denmark in the semi-final stage, where Croatia came up against
Iceland. While Iceland won a close match, 30:26, Sweden enjoyed a dominant win,
31:22.
Denmark recovered from the
semi-final loss to collect a 26:24 win over Croatia in the bronze-medal game,
before Sweden and Iceland played an exciting final that ended with a 32:27
victory for the Scandinavian team. After a level score of 12:12 at half-time,
Sweden relied on a solid performance from the tournament’s top scorer Ludvig
Hallbäck (56 goals in total) and All-star Team right wing Valter Chrintz to
finish the match stronger and claim the trophy.
The final ranking at the Men’s 20
EHF EURO 2018 is as follows:
1. Sweden
2. Iceland
3. Denmark
4. Croatia
5. Spain
6. Germany
7. France
8. Serbia
9. Slovenia
10. Hungary
11. Norway
12. Portugal
13. Russia
14. Israel
15. Poland
16. Romania
More information on the Men’s 18
EHF EURO 2018 can be found on the official
website of the EHF.
Photo: EHF