Denmark claim top spot with commanding win against Norway

EHF / Kevin Domas

28 January 2026, 22:10

Denmark had already booked their Men's EHF EURO 2026 final weekend ticket on Monday night, thanks to their victory against Germany. But the German win against France was putting pressure on the Danes — if they wanted to finish first, they had to take the points on Wednesday night against Norway.

Despite only having the 5/6 placement game to play for, Norway still managed to make a good impression in the first half. They even took an early three-goal lead, before Simon Pytlick and Mathias Gidsel decided it was their time to be in the spotlight.

Denmark were already ahead by three at the break and they increased their advantage as time went by, taking it to a maximum of 14 goals in the 57th minute. No matter who played — as Nikolaj Jakobsen rotated his team in the second half — Denmark proved to be the better team on the court, as well as in their main round group, in which they finished first.

GROUP I

DENMARK vs NORWAY 38:24 (19:16)

H2H: 17-1-1
Top scorers: Emil Jakobsen 7/8, Mathias Gidsel 7/8 (DEN); Tobias Grøndahl 6/10, August Pedersen 6/9 (NOR)
Goalkeepers: Emil Nielsen 10/29, Kevin Møller 4/7 (DEN); Robin Haug 1/14, Torbjørn Bergerud 7/29 (NOR)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Mathias Gidsel (DEN)

putting the Danish offence under pressure, Norway recovered quite a few balls in the first part of the game, helping them take a three-goal advantage after 12 minutes and forcing Denmark to take a timeout
this break completely turned things around, as a more aggressive defence and some saves by Emil Nielsen gave Denmark the opportunity to score five unanswered goals and to be ahead by three at the break
things even got better for Denmark at the start of the second half, as they netted three other unanswered goals to double up their advantage within five minutes
as the gap between the two teams increased little by little, crossing 10 units with nine minutes left on the clock, Denmark rested their major players without lowering their performance
10 of the 14 Danish court players scored at least one goal, with Emil Jakobsen and Mathias Gidsel netting seven times each; the latter was elected Player of the Match, presented by Grundfos
thanks to this win, Denmark finish first in the group, ahead of Germany, and will play against Iceland in the semi-finals

Thomas Arnoldsen’s return challenging Denmark’s opponents

As if the Danish squad was not impressive enough, centre back Thomas Arnoldsen made his way to the team this morning. The Aalborg centre back suffered a fibula fracture in the fall, and played his first game in three months last week with his club’s B-team.

Even though he only played a couple of minutes on Wednesday night, Arnoldsen showed that he was ready to play at the EHF EURO. With three goals and a couple of incredible assists, the 24-year-old proved that he can bring some freshness to the Danish team ahead of the final weekend — and also cause some damage to their opponents.

For us, the game was very important, even though we had already qualified for the semi-finals. We wanted to give everything for the full 60 minutes, especially for the fans, and to stay in our rhythm. And I’m really pleased with the performance.

Lasse Møller

Left back, Denmark

We had the power at the start of the match, for around 25 minutes. We stood up against them, we had the solutions in attack, we played great counterattacks, so it was a good start for us. Then the air went out of the balloon. We took some bad shots. Denmark had strong goalkeepers and a good defence, that’s why they won.

Sander Sagosen

Centre back, Norway