Summary: France win EHF EURO in extra time
After almost three weeks, the climax of the Men's EHF EURO 2024 is upon us and Denmark and France will play for the European championship title on Sunday evening.
16:41
Germany receive their fourth-place medals. They should hold their heads up high for a strong home tournament, and their best-ever finish since 2016.
16:38 | FULL-TIME
Sweden 34:31 Germany
Albin Lagergren sends the ball sailing past Andreas Wolff, and Sweden have an unassailable lead, but to add to Germany's disappointment, Andreas Palicka saves Lukas Mertens' last attempt. Sweden win bronze and a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Felix Claar and Renars Uscins are joint top scorers of the match, with eight goals each, but the Grundfos Player of the Match is of course Palicka - 19 saves for 45 per cent securing Sweden's victory.
16:35
Sweden regain possession with a lead of 33:31 as the clock ticks through 59 minutes, and they take their time in attack.
16:33
The noise while Sweden are in possession is phenomenal. Germany have two and a half minutes to close up Sweden's 32:30 lead, but Andreas Palicka is having none of it and saves again. That's 18 for the Swedish goalkeeper.
16:30
Andreas Palicka has had a rest and is back on, and back on fire with a couple of absolutely crucial saves to maintain Sweden's two-goal lead.
16:28
Lukas Mertens is having a solid patch, scoring twice in under a minute. The German defence battle on and steal the ball, with Christoph Steinert making it a two-goal game at 30:28. There's seven and a half minutes to play.
16:24
Alfred Gislason calls a timeout as Sweden lead 29:25.
16:20
It's 26:23 and there's 13 minutes to go - Germany have time to do this, but they need to keep closing the gap and Jonathan Carlbogard then extends the lead again to 27:23.
16:15
Timeout for Sweden.
You can soon vote for your Grundfos Player of the Match in the Home of Handball app.
16:13
A change in goal now for Sweden, with Tobias Thulin coming on, and Glenn Solberg is playing seven-on-six against Germany's efforts at a comeback.
16:10
In their respective semi-finals, Germany started well and had a poorer second half as Denmark changed tactics, while Sweden started poorly and had a storming second half. The script seems to have flipped today, with Germany stepping up in defence finally and Juri Knorr finally scoring on his fifth attempt. Germany are back within four goals of Sweden now.
16:05
Germany started the half more brightly, with Andreas Wolff making two decent saves, but Sweden answered and five minutes in it's still a six-goal game (20:14).
16:00
If they can keep this up, Sweden are 30 minutes away from a bronze medal and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. As the arena announcer says, "Auf geht's!" We're throwing off the second half!
15:53
Making save after save and just loving life - it's Andreas Palicka.
On court, Tobias Thulin is warming up, and so is Andreas Wolff, with the big German certainly hoping to produce his usual outstanding performance in the second half.
15:47 | HALF-TIME
Sweden 18:12 Germany
Germany managed to claw a couple of goals back after Sweden led by seven some 24 minutes in, but the half has been all about the 2022 European champions so far, with Andreas Palicka on fire with 14 saves (54 per cent). Alfred Gislason pulled Juri Knorr off early, after he missed four shots, but overall Germany's scoring efficiency of just 41 per cent is not good enough against a fired-up Swedish side.
EHF journalist Courtney Gahan has this to say:
"The crucial factor in this match is pretty clear: Andreas Palicka. With 14 saves already the Swedish goalkeeper has been a nightmare for Germany’s attack. After a good few opening minutes for Germany’s defence, including some saves from Andreas Wolff, the Scandinavian side have clearly been outplaying Germany at that end of the court with hardly any Swedish attacks stopped.
Although Germany have a big deficit to reduce, we’ve seen that happen time and time again in this EHF EURO, so we know there is still every chance for the hosts to end their campaign with the dream result of a first medal since 2016. But they will have to shore up their game at both ends of the court in order to come back into it."
15:39
Julian Köster scores a quick nine-metre goal from the centre of the line and provides a bright spot for Germany, who have had a pretty barren period with very little going their way. When they force a Swedish turnover it looks like things might continue in their favour, but Andreas Palicka stops the next shot - again.
15:33
After 20 minutes, a change in the German goal as David Späth makes his debut in this game.
15:31
OK, off we go again in this lively clash for bronze. Andreas Palicka is currently being a thorn in the German side and has made eight saves (53 per cent), compared to only two for Andreas Wolff. Germany are having real issues shooting against that, and Sweden lead 11:7.
15:28
Both team doctors for Germany and Sweden went to help with the emergency, along with the arena medical staff. The fan involved is being helped away, and the game can restart.
15:25
The game is currently paused for a medical emergency in the stands opposite the bench.
15:19
Jannik Kohlbacher adds a goal to make it 9:6 in Sweden's favour; Germany need a bit more of that as they play a power play period with Lukas Sandell suspended.
15:14
Jim Gottfridsson steals the ball from Renars Uscins and scores a nice fast break goal, giving Sweden a 7:4 lead. Alfred Gislason calls a timeout.
15:10
Sweden have been fast in transitioning from defence to attack, and that helped them to a 4:2 lead over Germany. When Germany get a chance to set up the defence properly it works, and after Johannes Golla blocks the latest Swedish shot Julian Köster quickly finds the net. 4:3 to Sweden.
15:05
A nervy start for both teams, apart from goalkeepers Andreas-es Palicka and Wolff (we've never had to consider the plural of Andreas before). Both made a good save inside the first two minutes, before Jonathan Carlbogard finally broke through to score for Sweden. On the following counterattack Andreas Palicka is knocked flat by Johannes Golla's shot, but Golla was also fouled and Timo Kastening scores the penalty.
15:01
Throw-off, for Germany's 106th EHF EURO game and Sweden's 105th!
14:56
Before the anthems and throw-off, the All-star Team members in the bronze medal match are recognised: Andreas Wolff, Juri Knorr and Hampus Wanne.
14:55
Head-to-head ...
14:50
The teams are being introduced and we're 10 minutes from throwing off. Sweden can win a second medal in as many editions of the tournament; Germany haven't featured in an EHF EURO medal match since 2016. At stake is not only the bronze medal, but also a confirmed place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Follow everything here: Sweden vs Germany
14:45
Meet Bent. He's six years old, from Cologne, and every day has waited for the German team as they've arrived at the arena and given them a hand-drawn poster. Today, to reward him for his loyalty, he was given a special tour of the arena, a signed jersey, and will have prime seats for the final. What an experience for such a keen fan!
14:40
Hello from a very, very busy LANXESS arena. It's already packed ahead of the bronze medal match between Sweden and Germany.
Sweden are fielding a team that's the same as their semi-final squad, and here's the German squad:
13:35
We're taking a short break before resuming coverage from the arena in about an hour - the bronze medal match throws off at 15:00 CET!
13:02
After over 20,000 people voted, here is the official Men's EHF EURO 2024 All-star Team: six nations, eight great players. Click here to find out who's on the list!
12:30
The last EHF EURO stat of the day looks at the angles from which Denmark and France shoot - Denmark much more to the left than their fellow finalists.
11:55
While eyeing a bronze medal and Olympic qualification place this afternoon, Sweden are already looking ahead two years to the Men's EHF EURO 2026, which they will co-host alongside Denmark and Norway.
11:30
Mathias Gidsel has had another great major tournament and going into the final leads the scorer points standings with 46 goals and 31 assists. Other players have scored a few more goals and made more assists, but nobody has had quite the impact as the Danish right back.
11:00
Denmark's Mikkel Hansen is no stranger to the big stage, with five titles already including the EHF EURO - but he's one of only five current Danish players to have been European champions. Denmark are hoping to end the 12-year wait for the EHF EURO trophy this evening against France, and Hansen's experience will be key. But, as he told EHF journalist Courtney Gahan, he's still loving every moment.
