GROUP A
H2H: 12-3-0
Top scorers: Johannes Golla 7/8 (Germany), Sebastian Frimmel 9/11 (Austria)
Goalkeeper saves: Andreas Wolff 12/34, David Späth 0/5 (both Germany), Constantin Möstl 7/28, Leon Bergmann 2/9 (both Austria)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Johannes Golla (Germany)
- both sides focused on defending in the initial stages, with solid-rock walls and strong goalkeepers — Constantin Möstl for Austria and Andreas Wolff for Germany — who were on par with six saves at the break
- a 5:1 run provided Germany with a comfortable cushion; team captain Johannes Golla stood strong at both ends of the court, while the Austrian attack tried to bring their line player Tobias Wagner in position
- after a short Austrian high right after the break, the two-time EHF EURO champions took the upper hand again, speeding up and pulling ahead to 18:13
- Wolff, who played his 34th match at the event and became joint-fifth with others in the all-time EHF EURO matches for Germany, was hit in the head by Sebastian Frimmel's shot and had to be replaced by David Späth for a while, but then returned on the court — and finally secured the victory with 12 saves
- finding themselves down by a few goals, Austria needed to change their tactics and increase their speed — they then managed to do so through their strong wings Sebastian Frimmel and Jakob Nigg, reducing the gap to 26:24
- netting for 25:20, his sixth out of seven strikes, Golla scored his 75th EHF EURO goal, while Austrian line player Tobias Wagner netted his 50th at the event
A wider bench and a hungry Wolff as crucial factors
It was the ninth time Germany and Austria faced in the last five years — and almost all matches became real battles, like the draws at the final tournament in 2024 or during the EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers. But Germany remained unbeaten against a strong Austrian side also in their opener in Herning.
As underlined before by both sides, there are no secrets in these matches. The reason for another German win was their wider bench and the ability to speed up when it counted. There was a major difference only when they played fast, as Austria defended well when Germany were in positional attacks — except when Juri Knorr showed off his magic hand or when Johannes Golla broke through the defensive wall.
Besides, Andreas Wolff clearly won the goalkeeper duel. Dreaming of their first EHF EURO medal since winning the trophy in 2016, Germany made a first step, while Austria can still hope for the main round, but they need to beat Spain along the way.
It was a tough game, very physical game, we matched the physicality of the opponent very good and that helped us a lot to win the game.
Overall, I think we can be proud of the game and it was a good fight and we can see that we can beat Germany if everyone is playing on his highest level. For now we are disappointed, but we have the final against Spain.
