Race for EHF EURO Cup semi-finals heats up; top duel in Romania

GROUP 1

Slovakia vs Poland

Wednesday 8 April, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• after four defeats in the same number of matches, Slovakia are out of the race for the final tournament, placing at the bottom of this group
• Poland’s only victory so far was the 28:20 in the reverse fixture against Slovakia, when Magda Balsam’s 10 goals were crucial for Arne Senstad’s side; in the double encounter with Norway in March, Poland lost twice (24:31 and 16:32)
• Poland can proceed if they win both remaining matches and Romania lose both — and, finally, they beat Romania by more than five goals
• the current top scorers of both sides are Barbora Lancz with 21 goals for Slovakia and Magda Balsam, who netted 16 times for Poland

Romania vs Norway

Wednesday 8 April, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• Romania’s only defeat in this competition was in the reverse fixture against Norway, when they were on an equal level for a long time, but finally lost 27:29
• in the two encounters in March, Romania took two clear wins against Slovakia (32:26 and 32:19) and are second-ranked with six points on their tally
• Norway continue to dominate in Women’s EHF EURO Cup, as they won all 16 matches played over three editions so far — and the record EHF EURO champions top the group with the optimum of eight points and have already qualified for the semi-finals
• Romania count on the second-best attack among the eight participants, with 125 goals scored, while Norway have the best defence with 86 goals conceded
• one point in their last two matches is enough for the Romanians to book the ticket for the semi-finals
• the top duel also features the two best scorers of the EHF EURO Cup 2026: Sorina Grozav tops the ranking for Romania with 32 strikes, ahead of Henny Reistad, who is on 25 goals for Norway

GROUP 2

Türkiye vs Hungary

Wednesday 8 April, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• Türkiye have lost all four matches so far, including the 30:43 defeat in the reverse fixture against Hungary, and are out of the race for the semi-finals
• after two clear wins at the start, Hungary lost both matches in the two encounters against Denmark in March (19:21 and 22:31) and currently have four points on their account
• in the reverse fixture, seven Hungarian players scored four or more goals, topped by Petra Simon, who netted six times
• with an overall of 18 goals, Petra Simon is also Hungary’s top scorer, having one strike more than Türkiye’s Gülcan Tügel

Czechia vs Denmark

Thursday 9 April, 17:30 CEST, live on EHFTV

• like Hungary, Czechia are on four points after four rounds — and the final duel between the sides on Saturday will decide which team will make it to the semi-finals
• Czechia lost their first two matches, against Denmark and Hungary, then won both matches against Türkiye (34:26 and 36:24) in March
• with a clean record after four games — including the 41:25 in the reverse fixture against Czechia — Denmark have already qualified for the semi-finals
• Trine Jensen Østergaard, who netted six times in the reverse fixture, is the best Danish scorer with 17 goals, one more than Czechia’s Eliška Desortová
• having scored 134 goals in four matches, Denmark have the best attack among all eight teams and the second-best defence with 90 goals conceded

Photos © Paweł Bejnarowicz (main), Fredrik Varfjell & Dejan Obretkovic (in-text)