Stats24 news and previews

The semifinals of EHF Euro 2024.

2024-01-25T07:52:32

We can look forward to some great matches in this year's semifinals, where the host nation Germany will face the favorites from Denmark. In the other semifinal, it will be France and Sweden battling for a spot in the final. Both Germany and France enter the match with a defeat, having already secured a spot in the semifinals and opting to use their reserves in losses to Slovenia and Croatia, respectively.

France has been consistent throughout the tournament, entering the semifinals with 10 points, which translates to 5 victories in the main round. Meanwhile, Sweden has been more inconsistent and recently suffered a significant defeat to Norway. Despite this, they managed to advance from the main round group with 6 points.

Top goal scorers in the EHF Euro 2024 semifinals:
◉ Juri Knorr (43)
◉ Mathias Gidsel (42)
◉ Dika Mem (41)
◉ Ludovic Fabregas (32)
◉ Hampus Wanne (28)

Most assists in EHF Euro 2024 semifinals:
◉ Nedim Remilli (43)
◉ Felix Claar (28)
◉ Juri Knoor (25)
◉ Mathias Gidsel (24)
◉ Julian Köster (24)

Big matches ahead, where Denmark, the favorites, will test their resilience against the host nation Germany, while Sweden aims to disrupt the well-oiled machine of France. According to us, it's shaping up to be a final between Denmark and France.

Denmark lives up to their favorite status and defeats the Czech Republic.

2024-01-12T08:59:21

The EHF Euro 2024 has started with great success, already breaking attendance records with 52,000 spectators in the opening match for Germany. Germany is a major handball nation, and it is a pleasure to see the arenas filled for most games. France, Sweden, Germany, Spain, and Norway, among the favorites, have all lived up to their billing, putting a bit of pressure on the strong favorites from Denmark as they concluded the first round on Thursday night.

However, the Dane lived up to their favorite status and defeated the Czech Republic 23-14, the lowest number of goals scored in the tenure of the Danish head coach, Nikolaj Jacobsen. It indicates a game where defense took center stage. A substitution, however, proved decisive as Emil Nielsen replaced Nicklas Landin in goal towards the end of the first half, and for the remainder of the match, he completely shut down the opposition, finishing with an impressive save percentage of 72%.

Top goal scorer in the match:
◉ Mikkel Hansen (5)
◉ Vojtech Patzel (4)
◉ Simon Pytlick (4)
◉ Magnus Landin (4)
◉ Stanislav Kasparek (3)

Here are the quarterfinals of this year's Women's World Cup.

2023-12-12T12:23:50

Yesterday's results mean that we now know who will face each other in the quarterfinals, which are already being played today. In advance, we knew that France, after their surprising victory over Norway, will face the Czech Republic, while Norway and the Netherlands will meet in a top clash in the other quarterfinal.

Tuesday night, Denmark defeated Germany 30-28, and simultaneously, Sweden defeated Montenegro. This means that Denmark will face Montenegro, while Sweden and Germany will meet in the last quarterfinal.

◉ Tirsdag: Frankrig - Tjekkiet
◉ Tirsdag: Holland - Norge
◉ Onsdag: Danmark - Montenegro
◉ Onsdag: Sverige - Tyskland

It is challenging to determine the favorites for this year's title, but according to several bookmakers, Norway is still the favorite to win the World Championship at odds of 2.80. France at odds of 3.0 and Denmark at odds of 4.50 follow closely, so it could very well be one of these three nations that secures the title. Denmark has the home advantage, as both the semifinals and the final will be played in Herning, which might provide an extra boost.

Denmark crushes Romania and advances in the World Cup.

2023-12-06T10:10:25

Denmark and Romania faced each other yesterday in the group's final match, a game to secure maximum points for the next round. Playing on their home turf, Denmark dominated from start to finish, securing a convincing 39-23 victory. At halftime, they held an impressive 11-goal lead, and in the second half, they continued their strong performance. With this display, Denmark is now considered one of the favorites in the tournament.

A great performance from the Danish goalkeepers, Sandro Toft and Athena Reinhardt, both boasting a save percentage above 40%, formed the foundation for an impressive defensive display. On the offensive front, Kristina Jørgensen led the team in scoring with 10 goals.

Now, the intermediate round awaits, where Denmark will face Japan, Poland, and Germany before determining the quarterfinalists, where they will be paired with Group 1.

Hans Lindberg close to 3000 Bundesliga goals.

2023-11-29T12:25:02

Hans Lindberg is already the top-scoring player in the Bundesliga, a record he set last season. In this season, he has continued his impressive goal-scoring streak for Füchse Berlin, and this weekend, he can achieve a remarkable milestone. With 7 goals, he can accomplish something no other players in the Bundesliga have achieved: scoring 3000 goals.

All-Time Top Scorer in the Bundesliga:
◉ Hans Lindberg (2993)
◉ Kyung-Shin Yoon (2905)
◉ Lars Christiansen (2874)
◉ Jochen Fraatz (2574)
◉ Robert Weber (2510)

Lindberg is now 42 years old but continues to play at an extremely high level. He has been in the Bundesliga since 2007, playing for both HSV Hamburg and Füchse Berlin. However, since 2016, he has been a prominent figure for Berlin, and he remains active on the Danish national team. It is anticipated that he will be part of the Danish World Championship.

Aalborg defeats Kiel in a historic victory.

2023-11-17T09:15:09

On Thursday evening, THW Kiel faced the Danish team Aalborg in the Champions League. Ahead of the match, Kiel was a clear favorite and had never lost to the Danish team at home. However, Aalborg created a sensation by defeating Kiel with a commanding score of 27-18.

Nicklas Landin has previously spent many seasons in Kiel and is considered a legend there, but now he is a player for Aalborg. On Thursday evening, he delivered a top performance and was one of the absolute key players in the match. In the first half, he had a save percentage of 65% with 11 saves, and by the end of the game, he had a total of 19 saves.

The match was close in the first quarter before Aalborg began to pull away, leading 11-6 at halftime. It's the first time in 27 years that Kiel went into halftime having scored only 6 goals. In the second half, Aalborg continued their strong performance, especially Landin, and there was never any doubt about the victory. Aalborg could, therefore, celebrate an away win over Kiel for the first time in their history.

Kiel has the opportunity for revenge as the two teams meet again in the next round of the Champions League, this time on the Danish team's home turf.

SC Magdeburg is the champion of the Super Globe title.

2023-11-13T12:05:01

The Super Globe, equivalent to the Club World Cup in handball, was decided on Sunday evening, with SC Magdeburg winning 34-32 against Füchse Berlin. This marks the third consecutive time that Magdeburg has lifted the trophy in Saudi Arabia, the host of the Super Globe event. Füchse Berlin led at certain points in the match, and for a period in the early second half, they had a four-goal advantage. However, this lead was erased, and some questionable decisions from Füchse towards the end of the game resulted in a 29-29 draw.

Mathias Gidsel from Füchse Berlin scored 9 goals and was named the player of the tournament after the match, finishing as the top scorer with a total of 45 goals in all games. Barcelona secured the third-place position with a 33-30 victory over Polish side Kielce in the bronze medal match.

Füchse Berlin has had the best season start in the club's history.

2023-10-18T10:16:06

Füchse Berlin leads the Bundesliga with 18 points after winning all 9 of their Bundesliga matches. This achievement sets a club record and marks the best start in the club's history. Their impressive start has fueled dreams among Füchse fans of winning the title this season. A standout player for the team has been Danish Mathias Gidsel, often the top scorer in their matches, making him a decisive factor. The Bundesliga is known for being the strongest handball league, and there will be fierce competition for the title, making Füchse's strong start noteworthy.

Füche Berlin in the Bundesliga:
◉ 9 games
◉ 9 wins
◉ 307 goals scored
◉ 261 goals conceded
◉ 18 points

Offensively, they are the best team in the league, as evident from being the top goal-scorers, with Füchse currently leading the stats in this regard.

Most goals in Bundesliga 2023/24:
◉ Füchse Berlin (307 goals)
◉ Melsungen (285 goals)
◉ Gummersbach (284 goals)
◉ Flensburg (281 goals)

Thursday brings a true top clash in Berlin as Füchse takes on the league's second-placed team from Melsungen. Can Füchse continue their impressive streak, or will the club record of 9 consecutive victories stand?

Ngannou vs. Jones:

2023-10-13T14:26:26

Dream fights, where martial arts fans imagine placing their favorite fighters against each other, are regular! Sometimes, the organizers make them happen. The Mayweather vs. McGregor boxing fight is one of the perfect examples.
The Ngannou vs. Jones MMA fight would have been another one, and the talks about it went on for years. Moreover, the UFC planned to arrange a fight between its heavyweight champion and the former two-time light heavyweight champion. But in reality, it never came to be. In this article, we will find the possible reasons while explaining how the plans looked.
Such impressive fights are usually popular among bookmakers. We won’t provide any UFC betting tips in this article; plenty of other related texts exist. For example, if you want to start wagering, we recommend reading this article explaining how to download Betlion app Kenya.

The Fighters
Before we explain the history of the talks about a possible fight, let us introduce you to both Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones. Both are powerful and have interesting careers, so let’s get more familiar with them. Of course, if you’re already a UFC or MMA fan, you know both of them, so the sections below mainly aim to describe the fighters for those unfamiliar with the sport.
Ngannou
A French fighter of Cameroonian origin, Francis Ngannou’s biography is a perfect “rags to riches” story. He grew up in poverty, started working at the age of ten, emigrated to Paris in his 20s, and spent some time being homeless. The career of the “Predator” was steady and full of successes: long win streaks before becoming a heavyweight champion in 2021, 8 years after debuting in MMA, and 6 years after his first UFC fight. He resigned and joined PFL in 2023, being one of the few UFC champions who left it at the top of their career.
He has an aggressive fighting style and can use his height to his advantage. He’s also good at throwing several punches one after another, which isn’t so common among heavyweights, even though just a few are usually enough. Ngannou is especially great at knocking down his opponents in the first few rounds.

Jones
Jon Jones is a living legend in the world of MMA. Born and raised in the US, he started practicing sports in high school, being great at wrestling and American football, where he played defensive lineman. And that’s when his coach started calling him “Bones,” a nickname that has stuck throughout Jones’ professional career.

Jones has been in the UFC for quite a long time, with his first fight in 2008. The start was quite powerful, although Jones was disqualified during his fourth fight after using an illegal move against Matt Hamill. So far, this has been the only loss in his career, and it’s a rather controversial one, with both Jones and UFC president Dana White trying to overturn it into a no-contest instead of a loss.

After that, Jones hasn’t lost a single fight. He became a Light Heavyweight champion in 2011. He was stripped of the title later due to legal issues and retook it in 2017. He vacated the title in 2020, citing the will to move to heavyweight and wanting more money for his flights. He successfully moved to heavyweight in 2023 and became a champion after a fight against Ciryl Gane.

The Talks
Francis Ngannou was already a well-known fighter when he won the UFC Heavyweight title after defeating Stipe Miocic in 2021. This took his career to the next level. And this is exactly when the talks about a possible match against Jones started getting serious. Although the latter has expressed his desire to fight against Ngannou even in 2020, things didn’t come through, especially since Jones asked for a quite big salary of around USD 25-30 million. These talks didn’t result in anything, which was quite surprising for both the fans and fighters. The fight seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass.

Nevertheless, the fight never happened despite many talks. At the end of 2023, Ngannou expressed that he and Jones would love this opportunity, but Ngannou is now in PFL, and UFC doesn’t participate in cross-promotional matches.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, despite all the talks and hype, and even with all parties being down for an event, the fight between Ngannou and Jones seems impossible. This is quite unfortunate since this is probably the biggest one in the last decade of MMA. After all, both fighters are powerful and well-known. Their aggressive fighting styles would make for an impressive event.

We hope that one day in the future, we will see this fight. Despite all of the possible problems, there are ways to host and organize it, and with both fighters being open to an idea, if they actively pursue it, things may change in the future.

Barcelona defeats Magdeburg in the EHF Champions League.

2023-09-22T10:25:44

The first home match of the men's Champions League at Palau Blaugrana promised to be a mouthwatering clash between two big teams. However, Barcelona had different plans from the start of the game, setting the pace and pulling away from Magdeburg. Danish goalkeeper Emil Nielsen put in an impressive performance, boasting a 60% save rate after 20 minutes. Magdeburg are the defending Champions League champions, so it's somewhat surprising that the final score after the match read 32-20 in favor of Barcelona.

After the match, Emil Nielsen ended with a save percentage of 48.6%, having stopped 18 out of 37 attempts from Magdeburg. The top scorer of the game was Mem Dika with 8 goals, and Barcelona now leads the group with 2 wins and maximum points.

Nicklas Landin and Rasmus Lauge back in the Danish League.

2023-09-05T11:42:28

The world's best handball goalkeeper for several seasons, now 34 years old, has returned to Denmark and joined Aalborg Handball Club. Here, he becomes teammates with his national team colleagues Mikkel Hansen and Henrik Möllegaard.
Aalborg is a club that is making a big investment, as they got a taste of success after their participation in the Champions League final four a couple of years ago. Therefore, they have increased their financial commitment, allowing them to afford some of the best players to compete on the international stage as well.

Landin played for several Danish clubs, including Team Helsinge, Nordsjælland Håndbold, and Bjerringbro-Silkeborg, before making a significant move to German handball.
He joined the German club THW Kiel in 2015, where he became one of the standout goalkeepers in the Bundesliga and the international handball scene.
During his time with THW Kiel, he won multiple Bundesliga titles and DHB-Pokal (German Handball Cup) titles.

Rasmus Lauge has spent 10 years abroad, and at the age of 32, he is returning to his childhood club, Bjerringbro-Silkeborg. Lauge has been an international profile, but unfortunately, he has struggled with numerous injuries, causing him to miss several significant matches/tournaments, both for his club and the national team. Now, he is heading back to familiar surroundings, aiming to avoid injuries and showcase his qualities in the Danish league. It's quite likely that he may also earn a call-up to the Danish national team once again.

Rasmus Lauge Schmidt's extensive experience with some of the biggest handball clubs in the world, including AG Copenhagen, THW Kiel, Flensburg, and Veszprem, makes him a highly seasoned player. His return to the Danish league is likely to make him a prominent figure and a valuable asset to his team. His wealth of experience gained from playing for top-tier clubs should serve him well in the Danish league, where he can continue to showcase his skills and contribute significantly to his team's success.

Jacob Holm is moving to PSG.

2023-07-07T10:41:08

After five seasons at Füchse Berlin, the time has come for Jacob Holm to seek new challenges, and it will be at the renowned French club PSG. The back player has signed a contract until 2026, and it was an emotional moment for Holm as he bid farewell to the Berlin club, which he referred to as his second home. Holm had one more year remaining on his contract with Füchse Berlin, but to the disappointment of Bob Hanning, it was Holm himself who expressed the desire to make the move to PSG.

" Jacob informed us early about his desire. I am sad to see him leave the club, and I would have liked him to stay for a few more years. I wish Jacob all the best."

Jacob Holm is also a part of the respected Danish national team, where he has contributed to winning the World Championships in 2021 and 2023, Olympic silver in 2020, and bronze at the European Championships in 2022. The 27-year-old star will now further develop as a handball player, and at PSG, he will have the right environment for this with skilled coaches, talented players, and excellent facilities.