France and Hungary aim to stay unbeaten in Debrecen

Romania and Poland are the only teams without points in the group I standings and they have to overcome strong opponents in their next matches. So far, Romania have proved that they can fight with the best, and Florentin Pera’s squad will have to do the same against Sweden.

Later on, France and Montenegro meet in a reenactment of the previous EHF EURO edition, when each side took a win. The night in Debrecen will close with Hungary in the spotlight, as the co-hosts aim for another win in front of their fans, this time against Poland.

GROUP I

Sweden vs Romania
Friday 6 December, 15:30 CET, live on EHFTV

• Sweden have already picked up their first points in the main round, following a 33:25 victory over Poland in the opening match
• on Thursday night, Romania put up a great fight against France, managing to stay close to the reigning world champions for most of the game; however, Florentin Pera’s squad lost control near the end and suffered a five-goal defeat (25:30)
• Natalie Hagman found the net nine times against Poland, making her the current joint top scorer of the competition with 31 goals, alongside Tjaša Stanko; goalkeeper Johanna Bundsen also added her name to the scoresheet with three goals
• Bianca Bazaliu is the offensive driving force for Romania, as the left back hit the 20-goal mark in the standings after netting six times in the French goal
• Sweden’s best performance at the EHF EURO was in 2010, when they finished as runners-up; after clinching fourth place in 2018, Romania ranked out of the top 10 at the last two editions of the tournament
• in three previous EHF EURO meetings, Sweden won one game - the 2010 semi-final, 25:23 - while Romania won two preliminary round matches in 2002 and 2004

France vs Montenegro
Friday 6 December, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• France and Montenegro met each other twice in the Women’s EHF EURO 2022; France were victorious in the main round (27:19), but Montenegro got their revenge by winning the bronze-medal match 27:25
• after a perfect run in the preliminary round, Montenegro suffered their first defeat in the competition, against Hungary; Djurdjina Jaukovic scored her 135th goal at the EHF EURO for her country, surpassing Milena Raicevic’s 133
• Chloé Valentini tops the charts for France with 17 goals to her name; against Romania she scored six times from the same number of attempts
• goalkeeper Armelle Attingré has both French and Montenegrin citizenship, and previously featured in two EHF EURO games for France, in 2014
• with four points in group I of the main round, France are aiming for another semi-final appearance at the EHF EURO; the last time they missed out on the battle for medals was in 2014, when they finished fifth

Hungary vs Poland
Friday 6 December, 20:30 CET, live on EHFTV

• Hungary started the main round on the right foot, maintaining their winning streak in the competition after a thrilling match against Montenegro, which ended 26:20 for the co-hosts
• Poland are still waiting for their maiden points in this phase of the competition; their biggest defeat at the EHF EURO came in 2006, against Hungary (37:21)
• Zsófi Szemerey stole the show with 15 saves and a 44.12 efficiency on Thursday, which propelled her to first place in the goalkeeper standings
• in attack, Hungary’s main asset is Katrin Klujber, who is currently on 23 successful shots
• the best player on the Polish side is Monika Kobylinska with 20 goals, six of which were netted in the opening main round match; with this performance, the right back reached 50 goals scored for her country at the EHF EURO
• Poland have never participated in the EHF EURO semi-finals in their eight previous appearances in the tournament – the closest they got was in 1998, when they claimed fifth place

Photos © EHF/kolektiff