Spain win the European Open Championship 2025

This year’s champion of the European Open Championship is Spain, who on Friday evening defeated Iceland in the final. They are the latest winners of a tournament that plays a crucial role in the development of handball. - Many have taken major steps here, says Stefan Lövgren of the European Handball Federation.

The European Open Championship is held every year during the Partille World Cup, in collaboration with the Swedish Handball Federation and the European Handball Federation. The tournament gives some of the top youth national teams the opportunity to compete internationally — right in the middle of the world’s largest youth handball tournament.

In this year’s final, Spain faced Iceland, and the former took an early lead in the match. At halftime, the score was 17–13, and although the game evened out in the second half, the Spaniards held on and eventually won 31-30.
Aldo Pagliota De Andres, a player on the Spanish team, describes the victory over Iceland as a great reward after a tough match.
- It was an intense and difficult match against Iceland, but we have trained hard and played well, so this is really a fantastic payoff for everything we’ve put in, he says.

The tournament alternates every other year between girls and boys. This year, it was boys born in 2006 (U19) competing for the title. Stefan Lövgren, who among other roles is a member of the European Handball Federation’s executive committee, believes the tournament plays a vital role in the development of handball.
– The European Open Championship is part of the international handball scene. Many players take their first big step in their careers here and it’s an important platform for this age group,” he says.

This year’s edition of the EOC gathered eleven nations: Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.