Final 2023 IHF Men’s Handball World Championship will be a battle of the titans as the two-time defending champions Denmark against the current Olympic champions France. Both teams qualified for Paris 2024: France as hosts and Denmark by reaching the final.
It will also be a rematch of the gold medal match against Tokyo 2020, in which gold was won by France. The final is scheduled for Sunday (January 29).
In the semi-final match against Spain on Friday (January 27), which they won 26:23, Denmark continued their near-flawless performance at this World Cup.
The win over Spain extended the Danes’ unbeaten streak to 27 games in a row, the longest in a World Cup and one stretching back to 2019. They reached the final for the third tournament in a row, winning the title in 2019 and 2021.
Young left-back Simon Pytlik he scored six goals for Denmark with a pivot Magnus Saugstrup adding five and Mikkel Hansen four.
Maciej Gidzel he scored another three goals and secured 54 goals in the tournament, equaling Chile Erwin Feuchtmann. This means the 23-year-old will almost certainly win top scorer awards by being Tokyo 2020 MVP.
France advanced to the final after beating European champions Sweden 31-26. It was a redemptive victory for the French after losing to Sweden in the semi-finals of the 2021 World Cup.
The co-hosts were without leader Jim Gottfridsson, who broke his arm during the quarter-final victory over Egypt. And not even the screaming Stockholm crowd could stop the French – led by a six-goal turnover Ludwik Fabregas – from reaching the final.
Spain and Sweden will now face off in the bronze medal match on Sunday (January 29). Sunday’s match also includes a match for seventh place between Egypt and Hungary and a match for fifth place between Germany and Norway.
