Seven players who can shine in the last two rounds of EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers
There will be no shortage of drama in the last two matchdays of the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, with plenty of berths, 15 more to be precise, to be awarded over the next week throughout Europe.
But for good results, which can enable safe passage to the final tournament in Germany next January, teams need to rely on their stalwarts to carry the form shown for their clubs into the national team games.
We highlight seven of the players that have impressed over the last month at club level, including two which will feature in the EHF EURO Cup 2024, where Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Germany are sharpening their knives before the final tournament.
Odinn Thor Rikhardsson (Iceland)
No player has scored more goals in the EHF European League Men than Iceland’s right wing, who has been otherworldly for Kadetten Schaffhausen over the last month. Rikhardsson has been amazing, scoring 43 goals in four matches against Ystads IF HF and Füchse Berlin, delivering perfect games, including a 15-goal outing against the German side and a 14-goal showing against the Swedish team on Kadetten’s home court.
Rikhardsson has scored 110 goals this season in the second-tier European competition and will hope to kickstart his form for Iceland, having scored only four goals in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers in the first four matches. Iceland lead Group 6, tied on points with the Czech Republic, but hold the tiebreaker against their rivals and will be looking for big wins against Israel and Estonia in the last two matches of this phase of the competition.
Andréa Parisini (Italy)
The Italian line player has been his side’s top scorer in the first four matchdays of the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, with 23 goals, the eighth best scorer in the competition so far. As Italy are trying to return to the EHF EURO for the first time since 1998, Parisini will be crucial against France and Poland next week, but the ask will be tall, with at least one point needed to progress to the final tournament.
Parisini’s stats are also good in the French league, where he plies his trade at club level, having scored a mammoth 11 goals against Nantes in his side Istres' loss, 35:37. In the last four games, Parisini scored 19 goals, arriving in excellent form for the last two games of the group.
Salvador Salvador (Portugal)
We extensively featured the antics of the Mota da Costa brothers both at club level, for Sporting CP, and at national team level, where they sealed places in the All-Star team at the M20 EHF EURO 2022 last July. This time around, both backs have been in stellar form for Sporting CP this season in the EHF European League Men, despite the Portuguese team’s elimination in the quarter-finals against Montpellier.
But they are not in the roster for the doubleheader against Türkiye and Luxembourg, with coach Paulo Pereira deciding to hand some chances to other players. One of them is Salvador Salvador, who has been superb for Sporting CP in the doubleheaders against Bidasoa Irun and Montpellier HB, where he scored 19 goals in the four matches played in March and April. This will be the debut in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers for the towering left back, therefore he might be motivated to star and cement his place in Pereira’s team.
Kay Smits (Netherlands)
We featured Smits in this column last month and here he is once again, as he is in second place in the top goal scorer standings, with 31, two fewer than Ukraine’s Ihor Turchenko, who will miss the last two matchdays due to an injury, creating a clear path for Smits to take the crown. The right back has been the Netherlands’ top scorer in three out of four games in the group and the Netherlands need points against Belgium and Greece to seal direct qualification, as they are now third in the standings.
The 26-year-old right back has not featured in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, as his team had already qualified for the quarter-finals, but Smits scored 37 goals in the last four matches in the German Bundesliga for Magdeburg, extending his amazing run of form. He was also the top scorer in the German Cup this season, with 42 goals, with 21 scored last weekend in the FINAL4 in Cologne, where Magdeburg finished second.
Juri Knorr (Germany)
Knorr’s season has been nothing short of fantastic, with the 22-year-old left back making his mark both at club level, for Rhein-Neckar Löwen, and for the national team, where he was named the All-Star Young Player of the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, where Germany ended up finishing in fifth place. While Germany’s form has been hit-and-miss in the EHF EURO Cup 2024, Knorr continued to impress for Löwen.
Knorr was named the MVP of the FINAL4 of the German Cup last weekend, scoring 16 goals in the wins against SG Flensburg-Handewitt and SC Magdeburg, lifting Löwen to a huge, season-saving win. Knorr has also been impressive in the German Bundesliga, where he is the second best scorer, with 161 goals in 26 matches, and 94 assists, enough for the fourth place in the top assist providers. Knorr is definitely a big part of Germany’s set-up for the future and will probably be the hosts’ star at the EHF EURO 2024.
Emil Jakobsen (Denmark)
Jakobsen scored 15 goals in the first four matches of the EHF EURO Cup 2024 for Denmark, hardly performances which raise eyebrows, but the Denmark left wing has been in superb form at club level for SG Flensburg-Handewitt. In the EHF European League Men, Jakobsen scored 27 goals over the last four games against SL Benfica and Fraikin BM. Granollers, but his team could not avoid elimination from the competition in the quarter-finals after a lacklustre performance in the second leg against the Spanish side.
With 144 goals, he is also the fourth best scorer in the German Bundesliga, boasting a 29-goal tally over the last four matches, being in absolutely superb form over the past month. A strong penalty shooter indeed, Jakobsen can be decisive for Denmark, as they try to pile on the pressure against Sweden in the last two games of the EHF EURO Cup 2024.
Julien Bos (France)
With only two matches played for France’s national team and one goal scored for “Les Experts”, Bos can make his case for future call-ups despite being third in the pecking order for the right back position after Dika Mem and Nedim Remili, who have been nothing short of amazing over the last few years for Guillaume Gille’s side. Sure, it might look like a tough ask, but if Bos can bring his current patch of form, he can surely be in the mix.
Over the last four games in the EHF European League Men, against FTC and Sporting CP, Bos scored 22 goals, adding 16 more goals in the French league over the last four matches. If Bos can translate that run of form to the national team from one of the last matches for Montpellier HB - he will move to HBC Nantes this summer - then he can have a chance for the future.
