Norway eye semi-final ticket as crunch time arrives

Norway come into the round as the sole group leaders on six points, while both Denmark and the Netherlands have four points, Germany and Slovenia have two, and Switzerland rank sixth after being defeated in both main round games so far.

Switzerland will open the action against the Netherlands, after which Norway aim to extend their perfect record and book their semi-final berth when they meet Germany, and Denmark meet Slovenia to conclude the day.

GROUP II

Switzerland vs Netherlands
Monday 9 December, 15:30 CET, live on EHFTV

• Switzerland have yet to secure any points in the main round, after taking their first wins ever at a major championship in the opening phase of the EHF EURO 2024; so far they have faced Germany and Slovenia in this stage
• the Netherlands won their main round opener versus Slovenia then lost decisively against Norway in their second game in Vienna
• coming into round 3 with four points, the Netherlands are in the running to return to the semi-finals for the third time, after they took the silver medal in 2016 and bronze in 2018
• the Netherlands’ Yara ten Holte ranks among the top goalkeepers in the competition, with 49 saves at an average rate of 40.8 per cent
• this is the first official match between the sides since 1995, with the Netherlands having won two of the three previous games and Switzerland the victors in one

Norway vs Germany
Monday 9 December, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV

• Norway enter round 3 the standalone group II leaders and count the maximum six points in their account, while Germany have two points thanks to a win over Switzerland in their main round opener
• while Norway enjoyed a powerful victory, 31:21, against the Netherlands in main round 2 on Saturday night, Germany were defeated 22:30 by Denmark
• Norway are the record title holders at the Women’s EHF EURO and are eyeing their 14th semi-final appearance in the competition, as they target their third straight title in a row
• Germany played the EHF EURO semi-finals four times up to 2008, and placed inside the top 10 at the last two editions, but the last time they ranked above Norway at any event was the 2005 World Championship, when they placed sixth to Norway’s ninth
• the historic balance between the teams shows 11 wins for Norway and three for Germany; Germany’s last victory versus Norway was at the EHF EURO 2018

Denmark vs Slovenia
Monday 9 December, 20:30 CET, live on EHFTV

• both teams took their first wins of this stage in the previous round, with Slovenia beating Switzerland 34:25 and Denmark overcoming Germany 30:22; Denmark come into this game with four points while Slovenia have two
• after taking medals at the last four major championships and finishing as runners-up at the EHF EURO 2022, Denmark aim to return to the top four at the EHF EURO 2024 and are in a good position to do so
• Slovenia’s best ranking at the EHF EURO is eighth, which they achieved on the home court in 2022
• Slovenia were the only team against whom Denmark lost on the path to the final at the last EURO — 26:28 in round 1; overall, the head-to-head record has five wins for Denmark and two for Slovenia
• after main round 2, Slovenia back Tjaša Stanko led both key attacking statistics at the EHF EURO 2024, with 37 goals and 33 assists

Photos © EHF/kolektiff