Denmark finished on the podium of the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship for the fourth time in a row, after a tough Scandinavian derby against Sweden, 33:31, where none of the teams led by three goals or more in the regular 60 minutes.
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
Sweden vs Denmark 31:33 (13:14)
A Scandinavian derby for a medal was the ultimate proposition for Sweden and Denmark, as the two teams which conceded losses in the semi-finals at the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship were on a collision course for the last place on the podium and the bronze medal.
They had also played for the title at the M18 EHF EURO 2024, one year ago, therefore they knew each other well, with Sweden taking a 37:36 extra-time win to secure the title last year and making history for themselves.
There was everything to play for here, in Cairo, but the first half saw the two sides embroiled in a battle which had no obvious winner, with their attacks slacking off multiple times and combining for 20 turnovers.
At this level of the players’ and in this younger age category, mistakes are expected, but both Denmark and Sweden failed to really get a rhythm going, despite combining for 27 goals in the first 30 minutes, with Sweden converting only 50% of their shots, Denmark just edging their opponents at 58%.
While starting stronger, 7:5 after 13 minutes, Sweden had its downturn moment and a 3:0 run from Denmark saw the runners-up from the previous edition of the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship take the lead for the first time, 8:7.
Denmark used another 3:0 unanswered run, splitted by a Swedish goal from their previous one, to improve to a three-goal lead, 11:8, as their opponents failed to score more than a goal in nine minutes and four seconds.
Right back Emil Darling Sorensen was instrumental in this run, scoring half of his six goals in the first half during this stint, but Sweden bounced back late in the first half and cut the gap to a single goal, 13:14 at the break, in dire need of improvement on the attacking side of the ball in the second half.
In only five minutes in the second half, Sweden scored six goals, half of the output from the entire first half, with centre back Nikola Roganovic, the MVP of the M18 EHF EURO 2024, matching his entire tally from the first half, to help his side edge back into the lead, 19:18.
The lead changed hand three times until the 47th minute, when the two sides were still deadlocked, 27:27, with the attacks seriously improving, with 27 goals scored by this point, and the average duration of an attack being less than 22 seconds for both sides.
Roganovic had eight goals by this point, while Darling Sorensen replied with nine, as the match was still hanging in the balance, with Sweden holding a narrow 30:29 lead with six minutes left on the clock.
Sweden found themselves backed into a corner, when after almost five minutes without a goal, line player Arvid Andreasson conceded a red card for a tough foul against Magnus Boysen and they had to play without two players, with Mans Fredriksson previously conceding a two-minute suspension.
But in the end, Sweden’s attack came undone once again in the last 10 minutes, when they scored only two goals. Roganovic had two turnovers, with Hultberg adding one more and another missed shot in the last minute, to hand Denmark a 2:0 run and open a 32:31 lead, and the ball posession, with 21 seconds left.
Denmark scored once again with a few seconds on the clock to secure their seventh medal in history at the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship and their fourth in a row, after the bronze in 2017 and 2019 and the silver in 2023.
On the other hand, Sweden, which had a 100% winning record in bronze medal matches, finish fourth, missing out by a whisker.
Player of the Match: Liam Hultberg (Sweden)