Portugal will advance if it maintains second place using the tiebreaker criteria for third place or achieves at least a draw in the last match of the preliminary phase of the European Championship 2026. Ahead of them is the host and the best handball team currently, which always got the better of the Portuguese.
Follow live here (RTP 2) – (Sport 1), the game that could determine the Portuguese handball team’s permanence in this 2026 European Handball Championship.
Denmark 11–12 Portugal: the chronicle of the first half
Portugal entered without fear against already qualified four-time world champions Denmark and made a very solid start to the game, even leading in the first minutes. At 10′, the balance was absolute (5-5), in a match played at high speed and with great intensity from both sides.
Only after 14 minutes did the Danes manage to take the lead for the first time, by one goal, an advantage that Portugal immediately canceled out. At 17′, the “Heróis do Mar” reversed the score again (7-8), in a duel always head-to-head.
The Portuguese team maintained its offensive consistency and, ten minutes before the break, took the lead again. In the 23rd minute there was a two-goal difference for the first time (8-10), a moment that energized the national team even more. Shortly afterwards, Portugal even reached a three-goal lead, albeit for a short time, as Denmark quickly reduced the score.
In the 27th minute, Salvador was banned for two minutes for touching an opponent in the face, but the team managed to hold on to the advantage despite being outnumbered.
At half-time, Portugal surprised and justified the advantage on the scoreboard: Denmark 11, Portugal 12.
It will be a huge challenge to beat them”, explained the Portuguese coach.
“They are the best team in the world at the moment. It’s going to be very complicated. We have to be very assertive in finishing, because missing a shot doesn’t just affect the result, but also the state of mind. It’s going to be a huge challenge to beat them”, explained the Portuguese coach.
After the victory over Romania and the surprise in the last game against North Macedonia, in which the ‘quinas’ team conceded a draw at the end of the day (29-29), Portugal complicated their qualification for the next round of the competition.
The game between North Macedonia and Romania ended with a score of 23-22, which means for Portuguese accounts that the ‘heroes of the sea’ cannot lose with a difference of more than 18 goals, against a four-time world champion Denmark. But each game is different and “predictions only come at the end of the match.”
The team led by Paulo Jorge Pereira has three points in second place in the group, which gives access to the ‘main round’, and has a positive balance of six goals (69-63). Third-placed North Macedonia, with one point, has a negative balance of 12 goals (53-65).
As the two games that close group B of the European Championship 2026 are not played simultaneously, Portugal enters the field, at 7:30 pm, in Herning, knowing the result of the match between opponents North Macedonia and Romania, already eliminated from the competition, with zero points.
In the event of a victory or draw for the ‘quinas’ team, Portugal ensures continuity in the competition and starts the next phase already with points, by gaining points over the other qualified team.
The Portuguese team and Denmark last faced each other in one of the semi-finals of the World Cup 2025, a competition in which Portugal achieved its best result ever in the final stages, placing fourth.
This is Portugal’s ninth participation, the fourth in a row, in the final stages of the European Championship. The Portuguese handball team plays all its matches in Herning, Denmark, and is looking to improve on the sixth place achieved in 2020.
Group B classification:
- Denmark* ————- (2 games) 4 pts
- North Macedonia — (2 games) 4 pts
- Portugal* —————- (3 games) 3 pts
- Romania —————– (3 games) 0 pts
* Portugal and Denmark play today at 7:30 pm.
