Until the 46th minute, Croatia were ahead – but Hungary then took the upper hand in the “final” of the EHF EURO Cup 2022.

By beating the EHF EURO 2020 runners-up 26:22, the EHF EURO 2022 co-hosts won the EHF EURO Cup and succeeded Spain, the winners from two years ago. Croatia made too many technical mistakes in the last 10 minutes to remain on top of the table. 

EHF EURO CUP
Hungary vs Croatia 26:22 (9:10)

• Hungary have won five of their six matches and took revenge for their 31:27 defeat against Croatia in November
• Croatia suffered their first defeat in the competition after four straight victories
• thanks to their stronger defence and goalkeeper Ivan Pesic's many saves (11 in total), Croatia turned a 3:1 deficit into a 8:5 lead – their clearest advantage before the break
• the 18:17 scoreline was Hungary's first lead after the break, but when Richard Bodo scored to give them a four-goal lead, 25:21, the hosts had secured their victory
• Csaba Leimeter, who plays his club handball in Croatia for HC PPD Zagreb, scored two crucial goals for Hungary (21:19 and 23:19)
  

The next duel in the EHF EURO main round?

The chances are high that the two top teams of the EHF EURO Cup 2022 will face each other again in the EHF EURO 2022 main round.

Croatia have been allocated to group A in Szeged, while Hungary have been placed in group B in Budapest. If both proceed to the next stage, as most people expect, they will fight for a semi-final spot in the new arena in Budapest. Their opponents for the preliminary stage will be unveiled on Thursday 6 May at 17:00 CEST at the draw event in Budapest.