Mittún: “The games you dream of when you're little”

Mittún has been a key part of the recent history-making few years for the Faroe Islands and was also the top scorer at every one of his Younger Age Category events; the M18 EHF EURO 2022, 2023 Youth World Championship, M20 EHF EURO 2024 and 2025 Junior World Championship. He was MVP of the first and last of those events, as well as All-star Team centre back at the Youth World Championship. But the individual accolades pale in comparison to the bronze medal taken at the Junior World Championship over the summer — the Faroe Islands first in any top-level handball tournament at any age or either gender. 

Competing in an international club competition is not new for Mittún, as he spent the last three seasons at IK Sävehof, where he played in the EHF European League. In 2023/24, he scored 68 goals, rounding out the top 10 on the season's scoring list. He was also the All-star centre back of the Swedish league in 2023/24 and 2024/25, as well as top scorer in the 2024/25 season, with 176 goals. 

Now, Mittún joins the highest-level club competition in the game, and shares how he sees that and the last few years with eurohandball.com. 

eurohandball.com: How are you settling in at GOG? 

Óli Mittún: Of course, it's always not the easiest part to settle in, but in a club like GOG, I think it has been one of the easiest parts. It's a very easy club to come into and a very friendly club. Very many young players are there and it’s very good all around the club, so very easy to come into the club. It has been very fun to train with all of them and to play matches — training matches. I think their game matches me also very well, with a lot of speed.

eurohandball.com: GOG is well-known as a great club for young players to develop, which must be one of the reasons you chose it. What can you tell us about your choice to go there? 

Óli Mittún: There were many reasons I picked this club. Of course, it's a top club in Denmark and plays in the Champions League, but also outside the field, I'm with a lot of young players. I'm also near my family here in Denmark, and this is my second land language, so I can already speak it. Maybe if I did go to Germany that would be even harder, to learn a new language and everything. As I said, I have one sister in Viborg and one sister and brother in Copenhagen and a lot of friends in Copenhagen as well. So, I think it was a perfect match. 

Also, of course, if I, for example, did go to Germany now, I don't know how big a role I would have gotten right away, but here I will get a good role, and also play in the top of Denmark — a league that is developing all the time — and also playing the Champions League. So, there were a lot of reasons and I'm happy that I chose GOG. 

eurohandball.com: You are technically a young player still, but you’ve already been established as a top performer on the senior level for some years. How do you see yourself in that respect — which do you identify with more? 

Óli Mittún: I don't know! We don't have a lot of players from the Faroe Islands, and that's the great chance, how can I say it, when you are a big talent, then you get chances earlier on the "A" national team. I think that is what is developing us even more. As you see, we have a very, very young men's national team. It's me, and then very many "02ers," born in 2002, and so on. And I think there will come even more young players.

That's how we play in the men's national team, with a lot of talents. Maybe before us, there weren't as many good players, but I think that this is starting to change in the Faroe Islands — there are a lot of big talents now and there will also come even more. We play with a lot of young players and it's a huge responsibility for us to play with on that age, but I think that is what is developing us even more. 

eurohandball.com: What can you say about the remarkable few years behind you with the national team and how they’ve helped develop you on an individual level? 

Óli Mittún: First of all, the youth championships, they have been very important for me, where I have gotten a very big role, every year, and gotten some individual prizes — that's not the most important thing. But we see the 2004s and the 2002s who have gotten very good results on the youth level, and then now the men's and women's are getting results also. It's amazing what's going on in Faroe Islands handball right now. It's very fun to be a part of it. 

When we were in Germany in 2024 for the European Championship, that was a crazy experience, when we had 10 per cent of the whole country watching us live at the arena and we got a tie against Norway in the last second. That was without doubt one of the biggest experiences in my life. And then now, of course, we got the bronze — the first bronze ever, the first medal ever at a championship, so that was a huge milestone for us, and we are very proud of it. 

I think that medal is going to be part of why we are going to push even more and hopefully we can someday make it on the senior level. That would be huge, but we know it's a lot of work to put in to come there. 

eurohandball.com: Coming back to club handball, what would you say about your years with Sävehof and how they shaped you as a player? 

Óli Mittún: Those were my first senior years as a handballer, except for the first one in the Faroe Islands. It has been three very useful years for my career. I started the first year where I didn't know I would play that much, but I got a role already in the first year because we had so many injured players. That was very fun, to get such a big role when you are 16, 17 years old. Then in the second year I really started to play very much and then we won the Swedish championship. That was really, really fun to be a part of. The last year, we came to the semi-finals and lost against Ystads, but very good years from my career.

I had two very good coaches, Michael Apelgren and Linus Ekman, who really helped me a lot both on and off to court, especially Apelgren. I think he’s one of the best coaches in the world. He really helped me become a better playmaker and to see things on the court on another perspective. He really helped me out a lot, and now I'm going to play against him in the first home game for us in the Champions League, so hopefully he doesn't know me too well! But it will be fun. 

eurohandball.com: Looking to your debut in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, how do you feel about joining this competition — this milestone in your career? 

Óli Mittún: We start with an away game against Barcelona — that is probably the hardest game anyone can face, so that is a real test you are getting at the start. But this is, of course, the games you dream of when you're little and want to play in the Champions League — to play against players who you are watching on TV and playing in the biggest league in the world. That is, of course, everyone's dream and I'm looking forward to it so much. Of course, we have a very strong group, but I think we have fine chances to get through the group, and we are going for that.

Photos © Lau Nielsen (GOG), Uros Hocevar / kolektiff (Faroe Islands)