France’s big comeback
Sweden protests after EM drama
January 26, 2024, 11:39 p.m
Sweden and France are in a dramatic semi-final at the European Handball Championship. When Sweden looks like the sure winner after a big comeback, France hits back. A direct free throw after the end of regular time now causes a protest.
Defending champion Sweden has protested against the 30:34 defeat in the semi-finals of the European Handball Championship against France. The European Handball Federation confirmed this in the evening. A decision is still pending. The protest is directed against the French goal to make it 27:27. Elohim Prandi scored a direct free throw at the end of regular time and thus saved the French into extra time.
“We have decided to inform the EHF that we want to lodge a protest,” national team manager Hanna Fogelström told SVT Sport. “Not against the actual evaluation of the free throw, but against the fact that there was no VAR review in the last 30 seconds, at such a crucial moment.”
France’s backcourt player Prandi threw the free throw past the Swedish wall into the corner of the goal. The Swedes had no chance in extra time. Whether the protest has a chance of success, “I can’t possibly say now. We’ll just have to wait and see what they think. But we did what we could and it feels right,” said Fogelström.
If the protest is rejected, France will play against Denmark for the European Championship title in Cologne on Sunday. It would be a new edition of the Olympic final in Tokyo 2021. Sweden would play against the German team for third place – and thus for European Championship bronze and direct qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer.
The Swedish team had equalized a six-goal deficit in the middle of the second half, and a few minutes before the end, the team around Flensburg playmaker Jim Gottfridsson was in the lead by two goals. Then came the situation that first caused horror and now anger.