Rasmus Lauge earnt his second EHF EURO gold medal as the “last survivor” of the 2012 champions. After Sweden in 2002, Denmark became the second hosts of the Men’s European Championship to take the trophy — and both beat Germany in the final.
After Mathias Gidsel was earlier announced MVP of the EHF EURO 2026, he also grabbed the top scorer title. And the reigning IHF World Player of the Year even beat the goal record for a single EHF EURO, previously held by Sander Sagosen, who scored 65 in 2020. Gidsel finished on 68 goals — four more than his teammate Simon Pytlick, the second top scorer of the tournament, who led the final with eight strikes.
The final was attended by Danish Queen Mary and German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who both took part of the medal ceremony.
FINAL
H2H: 13-2-9
Top scorers: Simon Pytlick 8/12 (DEN); Marko Grgić 5/6, Johannes Golla 5/5, Juri Knorr 5/11 (GER)
Goalkeeper saves: Emil Nielsen 7/19, Kevin Møller 8/23 (DEN); Andreas Wolff 14/45, David Späth 0/1 (GER)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Kevin Møller (DEN)
- when German Tom Kiesler received a direct red card after a foul against EHF EURO 2026 MVP Mathias Gidsel in minute 14, the Danes had the momentum for a while, pulling ahead to 10:7
- driven by their incredible back-court trio Pytlick, Thomas Arnoldsen and Gidsel, who combined for 12 of the side’s 18 goals before the break, the hosts took a narrow advantage to the locker room
- after goalkeeper Emil Nielsen had a strong start, he was replaced by Kevin Møller, who became the Danish hero with incredible saves; EHF EURO 2026 All-star Team goalkeeper Andreas Wolff also had a big impact for Germany
- in contrast to the 2024 Olympic final, which ended 39:26 for Denmark, Germany were a much tougher challenge this time, backed by Wolff, an extraordinary fighting spirit and their own strong back-court axis
- finally, the trophy was secured when first Nielsen saved a penalty off Nils Lichtlein and Niclas Kirkeløkke netted for 31:27 in minute 58
- it was the eighth consecutive Danish win against Germany in official matches since their last defeat against the side 10 years ago, when Germany later became European champions
- with the final, Wolff became the all-time record holder for Germany with the highest number of EHF EURO matches, 42, and the first German to be in the All-star Team three times
A long and winding road to the third Men's EHF EURO trophy
In 2019, Denmark’s incredible World Championship trophy run started when they beat Norway in the final in Herning. Three more consecutive trophies on the global stage followed, in 2021, 2023, 2025. In 2021, they secured the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Three years later, the Danes took their second gold medal under the five rings, beating Germany in the clearest Olympic final ever, after the first gold in 2016. Even after legends Mikkel Hansen and Niklas Landin retired from the national team following the Paris 2024 Games, they have kept on winning.
The only exception in recent years was the European Championship: In 2020, they missed the main round. In 2022, they won bronze. In 2024, they took silver after a thrilling final against France. In 2026, everything was prepared to end this series. But at the start of the tournament, Emil Madsen and Thomas Arnoldsen were out due to injuries. During the EHF EURO, Denmark lost three line players: Lukas Jørgensen, Emil Bergholt and, after the semi-final, Simon Hald.
But with Arnoldsen’s comeback, Nikolaj Jacobsen’s team was back on track. Intermediately shaken by a preliminary round defeat against Portugal, the hosts had their backs against the wall, but the hard-earned win over then defending champions France to open the main round was the turning point. With eight wins in nine matches and six from the start of the main round, Denmark are the deserved champions.
Tonight’s was a tough one. If winning all these titles does not make you feel great, you don’t deserve to be here. It was a tough tournament for us. There were a lot of expectations beforehand. It was difficult to meet these expectations in the beginning.
Tonight, Denmark definitely deserved their victory and they deserve to be European champions. I am very happy with my team and how the guys played during the whole tournament, the team has been getting better and better with every game. We played very good during all games, there was only one bad game for us.
