Handball World Cup: Danes destroy Duvnjak’s gold dream: fourth title in a row

Denmark’s handball players once again crowned their fairytale World Cup run with gold and impressively confirmed their status as the best team in the world. The selection around world handball players Mathias Gidsel prevailed in an emotional and characterized by some tumults with 32:26 (16:12) against Croatia and celebrated the 37th World Cup victory in a row. As early as 2019, 2021 and 2023, the invincible from Scandinavia had put on the crown. The best Danish launcher was Füchse-Profi Gidel with ten goals.

Previously, gold candidate France had comforted himself with bronze and stopped Portugal’s success run shortly before the crowning glory. The Équipe Tricolore won against the Germany converter with 35:34 (19:17).

Duvnjak only plays for Kiel

With a success in front of around 13,300 spectators, the Danish series winner prevented a Hollywood end of career for Domagoj Duvnjak in the Croatian national team. Before the tournament, the former world handball player had announced that it would end his international career and will only be able to play in the Bundesliga for the THW Kiel in the future.

Thousands of Croatians had come especially for the farewell game of their national hero and turned the arena into a heated handball temple. The 36-year-old had already won the World Cup and EM silver and Olympic bronze. The golden strip was denied to him. In the final, he only came to short missions in Croatia due to his injury from the preliminary round at home.

Aggressive duels and red card

The heated mood was transferred from the ranks to the floor. The Croatian players went into the duels extremely aggressively and sometimes stopped their opponents in an illegal manner. There were several times to tumble on the floor, in which the players pushed around. After 20 minutes, Croatia Marko Mamic saw the red card.

The Scandinavians were impressed by the hardness and afforded a lot of misconceptions. Only on Emil Nielsen in the goal could the star ensemble rely throughout. Thanks to its parades, the favorite settled on four goals at the end of the first half.

Bundesliga professional Best Croatian

As in the semi -final against Portugal, Denmark ignited the turbo after the break and pulled it on seven goals. Gidsel of success was better in the game and easily danced through the rows of defense. Overall, the speed game of the Croatians did not work well. Only Ivan Martinovic from Bundesliga club Rhein-Neckar Löwen radiated in phases.

The game was decided after 35 minutes. The outsider went out and Denmark walked effortlessly to the title. Particularly bitter for the competition: No opponent made the superiority from Scandinavia at this World Cup even almost problems.