Denmark became European men's handball champions for the first time in over a decade on Sunday night, beating Germany 34-27 in the final on home soil in Herning.

The Danes, co-hosts and reigning world champions, went into the final as favorites and lived up to expectations, only falling behind for a single minute in the first half.

Superstar Mathias Gidsel led the way for Denmark, the 26-year-old scoring seven times in the final to take his total tally for the tournament to 68 — smashing the European Championship record of 65 set by Norway's Sander Sagosen in 2020.

Otherwise, Germany were always chasing the game — a task made even more difficult by red cards shown to Tom Kiesler and Jannik Kohlbacher.

"First and foremost, I'm proud of our performance today and throughout the tournament," said German captain Johannes Golla. "Even today, we never gave up. If you just look at the result, it looks more one-sided than the game really was."

Golla was keen to emphasize the improvement since Germany lost 26-39 to Denmark in the 2024 Olympic final. "In comparison to then, we can leave here with our heads held high," he said. "But overall, we have to accept that it just wasn't enough today."

Two German players in all-star team

Golla himself was named in tournament's all-star team along with Germany goalkeeper Andreas Wolff — even beating Denmark stopper Emil Nielsen to the nomination.

"Such awards are signs of huge appreciation for Andreas and Johannes, who always took the lead, even in difficult phases," said Ingo Meckes, director of sport at the German Handball Federation (DHB). "But having two all-stars is also an achievement for the entire team, in which all 18 players played an important role. Without that, you couldn't play a tournament like this."

Germany — where handball is the most popular team sport after football – can now look ahead with confidence to the 2027 World Championship, which it will host in Cologne, Munich, Kiel, Hanover, Magdeburg and Stuttgart.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko