Handball was one of 11 sports contested at the 17th edition of the EYOF, a biannual multisport event for athletes aged between 14 and 18. The festival featured 3,600 athletes from 48 countries.
A total of 14 different European countries were involved in the handball events: both the men’s 17 and women’s 17 competition consisted of eight teams, with Norway and hosts Slovenia the only two nations represented in both genders.
Men’s 17 EYOF 2023:
- Germany started their group phase campaign with a 30:28 defeat against Slovenia, but would comfortably beat the same opponents 32:25 when they met again in the final five days later
- three teams finished level on four points in group B: Germany (+18) finished first and Slovenia (+8) second ahead of Iceland (-5) based on goal difference
- Croatia and Hungary both advanced undefeated from group A, after they played to a 34:34 draw against each other in the final group game
- in one semi-final, Germany eased past Hungary (31:24); in the other, the derby between Slovenia and Croatia went down to the wire with the hosts ultimately winning the dramatic shootout 12:11, and the match 50:49
- Germany led Slovenia already by seven goals (18:11) at half-time of the final and maintained that margin until the end, with six-time scorer Leon Stehl their most productive player
- the match was a repeat of the 2017 final, which Germany also won (29:26); Slovenia missed out on their first title since winning gold in 2013, but they took silver for the fourth time in total
- Hungary and Croatia went into extra time in their bronze medal match; led by János Dániel Barna (15 goals) and Márkó Elkemovic (12), Hungary finished just on top: 43:42
- Slovenia’s Mai Marguc became the tournament’s top scorer with 39 goals, leading János Dániel Barna from Hungary and Gabriel da Costa Sequeira from Portugal, who both finished on 34; Mai Marguc is the younger brother of Telekom Veszpém HC’s Gasper Marguc and RK Nexe’s Gal Marguc
- final standings:
- gold: Germany
- silver: Slovenia
- bronze: Hungary
- 4th: Croatia
- 5th: Iceland
- 6th: Norway
- 7th: Portugal
- 8th: Montenegro
Women’s 17 EYOF 2023:
- France dominated the tournament from the throw-off, winning all their group matches (+7, +19, +12) and the semi-final against Poland (+12) by a big margin
- a similar scenario seemed to apply to the final against Romania, as France built a substantial 17:11 lead at half-time
- however, led by eight goals in total from Teodora Lavinia Damian, Romania clawed their way back into the final and reduced the deficit to five in the end: 32:27
- France won EYOF gold for the second time after their maiden triumph in 2019; it was also the second silver for Romania following their final loss to Hungary in 2017
- from group A, Netherlands joined France into the semi-finals; in group B, Romania had three wins while Poland defeated hosts Slovenia in a must-win game for the second semi-final spot
- the two semi-finals turned into rather lopsided affairs, as both France (35:23 against Poland) and Romania (32:20 against Netherlands) earned 12-goal wins to enter the final
- Poland ended up winning the bronze medal, defeating Netherlands 26:17 thanks to a strong second half after a 9:9 half-time score
- Teodora Lavinia Damian from silver medallists Romania was the tournament’s top scorer with 42 goals, edging out Slovenia’s Tea Pogorelc who finished on 41
- final standings:
- gold: France
- silver: Romania
- bronze: Poland
- 4th: Netherlands
- 5th: Slovenia
- 6th: Czech Republic
- 7th: Spain
- 8th: Norway
