Will the defending champions live up to their role as favorites?
Group 1 of the main round at the 2026 European Championship brings together the who’s who of European handball! It will therefore be difficult for the six countries represented to secure one of the two tickets to the semi-finals.
The French are particularly impressive with their strong offense. No other team at the European Handball Championship has scored more goals than the “Equipe Tricolore,” averaging just under 39 goals per game. However, France will certainly not be able to match this average against Portugal due to the quality of their opponents.
In fact, it would have been even closer, as the last goal scored by the DHB team was not in accordance with the rules. For the match between France and Portugal, the prediction is now that the French defending champions will win by a maximum of three goals.
In addition, we expect another strong performance from Francisco Costa. The youngster has what it takes to become the best player of the tournament and leads the scoring charts with 39 goals after four games!
In light of this impressive interim record, the odds on him scoring more than seven goals again in the match between France and Portugal are equally recommendable. This prediction is underpinned by his last appearance against France, which took place around a year ago at the World Cup, where Costa was also very efficient, scoring eight goals!
France – Portugal Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
As mentioned at the beginning, the last direct duel took place at last year’s World Cup in the match for third place. France narrowly won the encounter 35:34. The French’s successes in this pairing are nothing new: seven of the last ten encounters have ended in this way.
The betting odds also favor the reigning European champions in the upcoming showdown between France and Portugal.
France – Portugal Tip
France recently put up a good fight against the top favorites and hosts from Denmark, but ultimately had to admit defeat. In contrast, the Portuguese recorded a surprise victory against the Danes in the penultimate game of Euro 2026. The results show that the upcoming match between Les Bleus and Portugal will be a close contest between two evenly matched teams.
We are therefore betting on France not winning by more than three goals in the match between France and Portugal. This prediction is supported by the improved personnel situation for the Iberians. Victor Iturriza, a particularly strong pivot, is returning to the squad after missing the recent defeat against Germany due to suspension.
