Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu

On Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 November 2025, Luxembourg’s men’s national handball team faced Latvia in a two-leg tie of the World Championship 2027 European Qualification Phase 1 at the Coque in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

In the first leg, Maik Handschke’s team lost by eight goals (28-20) and suffered the setback of losing one of their key scorers, David Ojié Etute, who had contributed seven goals. However, as assistant coach Maik Thiele told Chronicle.lu, this was not the team’s only challenge: “We had three injuries who couldn’t play today, because yesterday two got injured and one during practice. So we had only a few players left. Nine goals is a very, very big package on the back, we knew everything had to be perfect to turn it around. But yesterday we missed 19 throws from six metres. Nineteen. If you make half of them, you win 30-28.” 

In the second leg, the Red Lions held their own against the Latvian team. Another setback for Luxembourg came with the score tied at 10-10, when in the 18th minute Adel Rastoder was shown a red card for striking an opponent in the face during a shooting attempt.

However, the incident appeared to galvanise the home side, who not only prevented Latvia from taking the lead but also edged the first half 16-15.

“Also Rastoder, who played a great game yesterday in our defence and is one of our most important players in our core formation, got the red card in the first half, and so everybody thought it would go down,” said Maik Thiele, “but we fought the whole time.”

In the second half, Luxembourg gained momentum thanks to a series of spectacular saves from goalkeeper Kell Meyers and the sharp shooting of Samuel Itua Etute, who finished the match with eleven goals. The hosts led by three goals and at one point by four (25-21).

However, Latvia levelled the score at 28-28 with nine minutes remaining, and the game turned into a tense exchange of single-goal leads. With one minute left, Raphael Guden scored from the six-metre line to put Maik Handschke’s team ahead 33-32. Yet Luxembourg were unable to hold on - a late attacking error allowed Latvia to win a penalty, which they converted to seal a 34-33 victory.

“We played a really, really great match, and when you have the ball with one minute left and you are one goal in front, normally it’s impossible to lose,” concluded Maik Thiele. “Then we made a big mistake, we lost the ball when making a substitution, and so we lost the game. That’s really hard for every player, because they fought the whole time and were so motivated to do better than yesterday, and I guess we did.”

Luxembourg’s men’s national handball team thus ended their campaign for a place at the World Championship 2027.