Nigeria became the first African side in history to secure a place in the semi-finals of the IHF Men’s Emerging Championship, finishing the preliminary round unbeaten, with a 25:22 win over the Republic of Moldova.

GROUP A
Nigeria vs Republic of Moldova 25:22 (14:12)

It was a do-or-die match for both Nigeria and the Republic of Moldova, with a positive performance bringing the winner into the semi-finals mathematically, as Azerbaijan were already out of contention for advancing into the next phase.

The Republic of Moldova looked to have the upper hand in the first half, as the European side  had better performances than Nigeria, which lagged behind the United States of America in the first match and could only deliver a one-goal lead against Azerbaijan at the break in the second one.

However, the African side had Faruk Yusuf slotted in the right back position from the get go and, despite failing to score any goal in the first six minutes and 16 seconds, still had a lot of firepower with them.

While Moldova jumped to a 4:0 early lead, as Ion Saharnean delivered a good match between the posts, Nigeria bounced back quickly and Yusuf swiftly delivered a fantastic performance, scoring six goals and adding four assists in the first half, contributing directly to 10 of his team’s 14 goals.

Unanswered runs of two, three and four consecutive goals scored by Nigeria saw the match turned on its head, as the Republic of Moldova scored only two goals between the seventh and the 19th minutes, being down four goals, 12:8, after 22 minutes.

Despite a 48% shooting efficiency, Vladislav Caraman and Roman Zacaciurin, the two Moldova backs with the most prolific records so far in the competition, combined for seven goals in the first 30 minutes and helped their side cut the gap to only two goals, 14:12, at the break.

Holding the lead and usually performing better in the second half meant that Nigeria had their eyes on a bigger gap, which would have enabled the African side to challenge the USA for the first place in the standings, needing a bigger goal difference than the American side were the USA to win against Azerbaijan in the next match.

But for the first part of the second half, the Republic of Moldova kept close, with the gap not exceeding three goals and still stuck at two goals, 19:17, with 17 minutes to go, as Yusuf was handed some precious rest moments in attack during the first minutes of the second half.

The decisive blow came when Faruk Yusuf – Nigeria’s top scorer in the competition, with 19 goals, eight of which came in this match, was back on the court and Nigeria went on a 4:1 run, where Solomon Yusuf scored twice and Obinna Okwor said three shots in a row, to help Nigeria open a five-goal lead, 23:18.

While the European side managed to stay afloat, they clearly lacked the firepower to mount a comeback, as Nigeria eventually emerged as winners, 25:22, but will only finish on the top of the group if the USA do not win against Azerbaijan.

With their second win in three matches, Nigeria stay unbeaten and qualified for the semi-finals of the 2025 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, as they are now sure of securing the best finish for an African side in history in the competition.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Moldova, which lost two of the three matches in the group, are heading to the Placement Matches, missing out on a semi-finals berth, which would have come only in the case of a win in this match.

Player of the Match: Faruk Yusuf (Nigeria)