Sweden won the Men’s EHF EURO 2022 handball championship here on Sunday, beating Spain 27-26 in a fantastic match, while the bronze medal went to Denmark, who defeated France 35-32, according to Xinhua.

The game was extremely tight, as it is not unusual in a final, and the Spaniards took the lead within the last minute of the first half, thanks to an efficient defense backed by goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, who was elected Player of the Match for his performance.

Spain did manage to lead by two goals for a short time at the start of the second half, but after 17-15, neither team kept an advantage of more than one goal.

The final score was set in the last minutes. The standstill at 26-26 was finally broken by an overtime penalty, called for Ekberg who became the hero for Sweden.

Denmark returned to the podium after eight years. The feat is even more so historic, that the Danes have never defeated the French at the EHF EURO, in the five times they met on the parquet. Kentin Mahe earned the Player of the Match award, after scoring eight and making seven assists.

The Men’s EHF EURO 2022, starting on January 13, took place in five venues across Hungary and Slovakia.

A total of 24 teams competed in six groups in the 15th European Championship and 65 matches took place during 18 days

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency