Next-level insights into EHF EURO 2024 title contenders

The current world champions Denmark and the defending EHF EURO title holders Sweden scored the most goals in the preliminary round, notching up 100 each. Sitting third in this ranking, with 98, Croatia had the highest scoring efficiency, with 74.8 per cent. Slovenia were second highest in terms of efficiency (74.2 per cent), ahead of Denmark in third (73.5 per cent).

Croatia wing Mario Sostaric played a big role in his team’s overall efficiency, as he did not miss one shot of the 18 he took in the preliminary round.

The second highest after Sostaric’s 100 per cent was Denmark right back Mathias Gidsel at 85.7 per cent, although eight of Sostaric’s goals were from the penalty line while all of Gidsel’s were from the field. Germany centre back Juri Knorr notched up the most goals, 24, but had a much lower efficiency at 60 per cent. 

Considering only goals from the field, the Netherlands topped this scoring ranking, with 90. Denmark were one behind from the field but had a higher efficiency than the Netherlands — 73 per cent to 69.2 per cent, respectively. But once again it was Croatia and Slovenia who were the most efficient of all, with Slovenia netting at 73.9 per cent and Croatia recording 73.3. The most goals from the field from an individual player came from Portugal back Martim Costa, at 20.

Portugal lead a number of statistics among the main round sides: top running distance, number of sprints, number of passes and time of ball possession. These statistics are particularly interesting given some of them would usually belong to teams that are losing games, for example, time in possession and number of passes.

Normally, if a team has more possession in a match, it is because they are the side working harder for their goals while their opponents are scoring faster. The same applies for number of passes. But given Portugal won two of their three games in the preliminary round in Munich, that does not apply here.

The running distance and number of sprints therefore help complete the picture related to Portugal’s attack: that they move a lot, and fast; and spend time moving the ball in order to build their attack.

Looking at the numbers, Portugal ran 93.13 km in the preliminary round, compared to 92.04 km for the team ranked second in this list, France, and third-positioned Slovenia on 91.22 km. In terms of number of sprints, Portugal recorded 554, followed by Germany with 539 and Slovenia on 525.

With number of passes, Portugal were clearly on top with 2,404, ahead of Slovenia with 2,196 and Austria with 2,145. Last of the Portugal-topped lists was average time of possession, with the side being the only one of the main round teams holding the ball more than half the match: 31 minutes and 34 seconds. Slovenia were second with 29 minutes and 19 seconds on average, while Hungary were third with 28 minutes and 13 seconds.

When it comes to number of sprints, on an individual level, no player in the main round came close to Germany’s Timo Kastening, with 160. Next was Austria’s Sebastian Frimmel with 144. Of the top 12 players in terms of number of sprints, all but one are wings.

The outlier is Denmark’s Niclas Kirkeløkke, who has been an important defensive specialist for his side and likely recorded his high number of sprints in the transitions back to the line.

Austria centre back Lukas Hutecek ranks clear at the top for individual time of ball possession and number of passes, with 675 passes ahead of Portugal’s Miguel Martins on 535. Hutecek spent 23 minutes and 11 seconds with the ball in his hands across the three preliminary round matches, with Martins recording 19 minutes and 53 seconds.

Individual time of possession and number of passes are strongly correlated in most cases, so the 12 players on the two lists are almost identical – and almost all centre backs.

But there are some differences that highlight individual playing styles. Three players appear in the top 12 for time of possession but not for passes, showing their tendency for breakthroughs: the Netherlands’ Luc Steins, Hungary’s Máté Lékai and Iceland’s Ómar Ingi Magnusson. Then there are key playmakers who replace these three among the top pass makers: Denmark’s Simon Pytlick, Hungary’s Gergö Fazekas and Iceland’s Gisli Kristjansson.

Moving to the other end of the court, Denmark have both the most saves, 53, and the highest efficiency, an outstanding 43.4 per cent, thanks to Niklas Landin and Emil Nielsen. Sweden and Germany are next, with 41 saves at 36 per cent and 40 saves at 36.4 per cent, respectively.

Individually, the most saves and highest efficiency were recorded by Germany’s Andreas Wolff, with 31 saves at an average of 39.2 per cent across their three matches. Sweden’s Andreas Palicka and Landin were just behind with 38.9 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively.

Many of these KINEXON statistics, updated on a match-by-match basis, can be seen in the player statistics section of the EHF EURO 2024 site.

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