Portugal (POR)

Between 2006 and 2020, Portugal missed out on qualifying for the EHF EURO, but a great generation, led by Paulo Pereira from the bench, has returned in style, finishing in sixth place four years ago.

The surprise factor has somewhat evaporated, though, and Portugal ended up 19th in 2022, after conceding three losses in the preliminary round.

This time around, Portugal are coming in hot and aiming for the main round once again. They face Denmark, Czechia and Greece in Munich, and anything but a place between the top 12 teams in Europe would be considered a failure.

There have been changes in the team in the past years, but Portugal are still going strong, as underlined by their performance in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, where they were one of three teams with a 100 per cent record, winning all six matches against North Macedonia, Türkiye and Luxembourg. Their goal tally of 210 made them the third best attack among the 32 teams taking part in the qualifiers. With Pereira still at the helm, Portugal are aiming for silverware in the future, especially as a new era is upon them. Right back Francisco Costa, the top goal scorer at the M20 EHF EURO 2022, might be still only 18 years old, but is a transcendental talent, as proven in the EHF European League Men where he has scored nearly 200 goals in the past three seasons.

While only making his debut at the EHF EURO, the right back will have plenty of help from his teammates, some of whom are already at their third edition of the EHF EURO. Portugal could certainly be a dark horse in the competition, as they were in 2020.