Spain secure W19 EHF Championship title in Lithuania

European Handball Federation

17 July 2023, 12:00

The trophy of the Women’s 19 EHF Championship 2023 in Lithuania goes to Spain! The team of head coach Joaquín Rocamora outscored Faroe Island 34:23 in Sunday’s final, three days after Spain had won by just a single goal when both teams met in the group phase. Hosts Lithuania took bronze after beating Slovenia.

dominant all week, Spain cruised to the title as they won each match by double-digit figures – except for their group match against Faroe Islands
in that game on Thursday, Spain had to come back from 16:13 down at half-time to clinch the narrowest of wins: 29:28
however, when both teams faced each other again in Sunday’s final, Faroe Islands could keep up with Spain for only the first 12 minutes of the match (6:6) before Spain took control
quickly establishing a six-goal lead which also stood at half-time (18:12), Spain never got in troubles again and completed a comprehensive 34:23 win for the title
remarkably, no Spain player scored more than five times in the final, while nine different players found the net at least twice
Spain coach Joaquín Rocamora: “I am very happy, the team did a great job. The team believed in the game plan and overall, we kept growing every game. Even though we had already won against Faroe Islands a few days ago, it was still a tough game”
in the semi-final the day before, Spain dashed Lithuania’s hopes already in the first half (19:9) on their way to another big win: 38:22
in sharp contrast, the other semi-final went into a shootout after Faroe Island and Slovenia were stuck at 33:33 at the end of regular time; ultimately, Faroe Islands came out on top, 37:36
Lithuania bounced back well from their semi-final defeat as the hosts had a commanding 34:25 win over Slovenia in the bronze medal match, which seemed decided already after the first half, 20:12
more success for the hosts: Lithuania left back Gabija Pilikauskaite finished on 44 goals to become the tournament’s top scorer, ahead of Slovenia’s Azra Zulić on 36; Pilikauskaite also made the All-star Team and was named MVP of the tournament
Spain and Italy – winners of the simultaneous W19 EHF Championship in Kosovo – join North Macedonia and Croatia – the bottom two teams from the W19 EHF EURO 2023 in Romania – in a four-team qualification tournament currently scheduled for November 2023, with the winners earning the 14th and final European place at the 2024 IHF Junior World Championship