Co-hosts Sweden will enter the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, properly motivated to deliver an excellent performance, with a medal at stake when they face Spain in the bronze medal match on Sunday.
The two sides have already met in a bronze medal match at the IHF Men’s World Championship in 2011, when the competition was also hosted by Sweden, with “Los Hispanos” taking a 24:23 nail-biting win.
18:00 CET Spain vs Sweden
Sweden are hosting the IHF Men's World Championship for the fifth time in history and they have never finished outside the top 5 in any of those competitions. This time around, the Scandinavian side are in the semi-finals and have started the competition with seven wins in a row for the third time in history.
Ok, so we are into unknown territory at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship. We have just entered the last week of the competition. In only seven days, we will find out who are the new world champions!
But until then, there is still a day left in the main round at Poland/Sweden 2023. Group I and Group II of the main round concluded on Sunday evening, with some high-profile clashes that yielded four teams qualified for the quarter-final.
What a game it was. Portugal had everything in their hands but failed to stop Sweden or even snatch a draw. It was a close contest until the 40th minute of the match when Sweden made a six-goal lead, a hard challenge for the Portuguese side, even though they came close five minutes before the final whistle. Co-host claimed their sixth win in a row and pushed Hungary into the quarter-final with them.
Main Round Group II
Sweden vs Portugal 32:30 (13:14)
Sweden claimed their fifth consecutive win at the World Championship and booked their ticket for the quarter-finals. Andreas Palicka between the posts became a nightmare for Iceland's attackers and helped his team to seal the comfortable win in front of more than 10,000 chanting fans in Scandinavium Arena.
Main Round Group II
Iceland vs Sweden 30:35 (16:17)