Lithuania and Croatia join Portugal, France in Wheelchair EURO semi-finals

The semi-finals and the medal matches take place on Sunday:

• 11:00 CET — semi-final: Lithuania vs France
• 12:30 CET — semi-final: Portugal vs Croatia
• 17:00 CET — bronze medal match
• 18:30 CET — final

The remaining teams play cross and placement matches, also on Sunday (see the full match schedule). Saturday is a rest day.

• the extremely balanced group A went down to the wire as only the very last match between Croatia and Norway decided about the teams advancing to the semi-finals
• Croatia needed to win that match, but narrowly lost the opening set 8:7, then dominated the second set 11:4 and closed out the win by taking the five-minute decider 5:2
• that result saw all five teams in the group finish on four points, with two wins and two defeats; the set difference brought the decision in favour of Lithuania (6:4) ahead of Croatia (6:6)
• Norway (6:6), Hungary (5:6) and the Netherlands (5:6) missed out on the semi-finals and will play for the rankings fifth to ninth
• the race to the semi-finals was decided much faster in the four-team group B, where favourites Portugal and France secured the top two spots even before the last day of the group phase
• Portugal, the last winners of a European championship (under a different competition format in 2022), opened their campaign with flawless 2:0 wins over both Romania and Spain
• France, who reached the semi-finals of last year's World Championships, also won twice, tough they dropped the second set against Spain, 2:1
• in their direct duel on Friday, Portugal left no doubt and clearly won two sets to beat France 2:0 and lock up top spot in group B
• Croatia's Ante Štimac is the competition's top scorer after the group phase, with 43 points — an average of 10.8 points per match; Ricardo Queiros, who played one match less, scored an average of 11.7 per match, after netting 35 points in Portugal's three games
• the EHF Wheelchair EURO 2025 is the first European championship played under the four-a-side rules; more about the competition format can be found here

Lithuania are keeping their "careful dream" alive

A week ago, hosts Lithuania didn't know what to expect from the EHF Wheelchair EURO 2025, their first-ever tournament. Wheelchair handball didn't even exist in the country just over a year ago, so how quickly would they be able to catch up with more experienced nations that had been practicing the sport for a decade or longer?

This week, Lithuania started with two 2:1 defeats, against Norway and Croatia, but they were far from being outplayed by their opponents in both matches. And the tide did turn with a 2:0 win against the Netherlands, followed by another 2:0 victory over Hungary on Friday.

With other results going their way, Lithuania have now even won their group. Taking on France, the World Championship semi-finalists from last year, is a deserved reward for all the efforts Lithuania have put into giving wheelchair handball a chance in the country. That is already a big victory — regardless the result of Sunday's semi-final.

photos © Vidmantas Budrys