Article by Adrian Jitea – Published Friday, January 23, 2026, 01:34 / Updated Friday, January 23, 2026 01:35
Germany defeated Portugal 32-30 in the first match of the main group I of the European Men's Handball Championship. It ended with a big scandal, the fault being the arbitration decisions in the last sequences.
Germany and Portugal entered the main group with two points each and hope to qualify for the European semi-finals, despite a hellish schedule, direct opponents being Denmark, France, Spain and Norway.
The EHF admits a refereeing error from the end of the match
The EHF issued a statement admitting that the two Swedish referees made a mistake in the last phase when they allowed the restart of the game with a forward pass to Uscins. They added that the correct decision would have been to repeat the throw-in from the center of the pitch, not to change possession.
In the 59:55 minute, the German player number 54 took the kick-off after a goal by the Portugal team.
Two German players (numbers 5 and 23) crossed the center line before the referee's whistle, and player number 23 subsequently received the ball and scored.
Although replaying the kickoff would have been the correct procedure, it would not have changed the team in possession of the ball.
In accordance with the IHF Video Replay Regulations, this situation was not eligible for review, as it does not fall within the provisions of situation no. 9 of the VR regulation (“Game-Changing Situations”), which include decisions on 7-meter throws, penalties or decisions that may lead to a change of possession.
– EHF press release
The Portuguese accuse the referee
The first half in Herning was dominated by the two defenses and the interventions of the goalkeepers. It ended in a tie, score 11-11. Things changed completely after the restart.
The Lusitanians led 15-13, the Germans took the lead and held it until a highly contested finish.
The umpire brigade consisted of two Swedes, Mattias Wetterwik and Mirza Kurtagic. Throughout the second half, the Portuguese contested their decisions.
With 40 seconds left, the party officials made an important decision. They whistled a long-delayed 7 yards for the Germans, Zerbe converted and made the score 31-29.
Portugal responded quickly and managed to score. There were 10 seconds left in the game, but Paulo Pereira's students had no time for anything. That's because the goalkeeper Wolff slowly went to the center, something copied by his colleagues. In vain had the Portuguese surrounded the referee.
The ball was put back with 3 seconds left, Uscins scored for a big win! Germany reaches 4 points and continues to hope for the semi-finals.
VIDEO with the tense final from Germany – Portugal
While MVP Andreas Wolff (13 tackles) celebrated with his teammates, coach Pereira was lashing out at the referees and officials at the EHF table. The Portuguese protested for several minutes. In vain!
Salvador Salvador, the Lusitanian handball player, could hardly resist the interview at the end:
It's hard to describe what we feel. We see what kind of decisions we had to face after beating Denmark at home. If I talk more, I will be in great danger. Today was a nice match, the defenses worked in the first half. The second part was the opposite. The small details made the difference, Wolff took many balls out of situations where we should have scored. That's it, we have to keep fighting
– Salvador Salvador, at the EHF microphone
In the other two group games of the day, Norway beat Spain 35-34 and Denmark came back against France to win 32-29. The fight for the semi-finals will be played until the last round!
PHOTO: Capture @Ehf
