Great Britain made it to the semi-finals of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship for the second time in history and for the first time in six years, after registering their second win, 33:27, against Paraguay.

GROUP A
Great Britain vs Paraguay 33:27 (17:14)

The winner took it all. This is how it looked before the start of the match – the last in the preliminary round of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, as both Great Britain and Paraguay were aiming for a semi-finals berth.

Paraguay were primed to deliver another good match, after they thoroughly disposed of Cyprus in the previous match and were the better side for the first 10 minutes, when Great Britain had an increased number of turnovers, failing to brush up their act.

Nevertheless, a 3:0 run between the 11th and the 13th minutes, when the European side scored three times in 84 seconds, turned the match on its head and helped Great Britain open up a 6:4 lead. 

Backed by a good performance from goalkeeper Kylian Ferrier, who saved nine shots in the first half, Great Britain had yet another 3:0 run between the 15th and 18th minutes, with Francisco Pereira, their top scorer of the competition, taking over, as the lead grew to four goals, 11:7.

But a relentless Paraguay squad, which never back down even in the toughest moments, managed to keep the gap steady, until Great Britain embarked on another 3:0 run, once again fueled by Pereira, who finished the first half with six goals.

It helped the British side to open a five-goal lead, but at the break, Paraguay managed to cut it to only three goals, as Jorge Rojas Gutierrez was yet again in excellent form, after receiving the Player of the Match award in the previous match, against Cyprus.

The two sides went back and forth for most of the start of the second half, trading goals, or 2:0 runs, but with 16 minutes to go, it was still anybody’s match, as Paraguay were down only two goals, 23:21, with everything still to play for, despite Great Britain leading for 30 minutes at that point.

Then came the pivotal moment of the match. As Paraguay collapsed totally and their shooting efficiency went down to 46%, Great Britain went on a 7:0 unanswered run, basically deciding the match, as Pereira scored three goals in a row to improve his tally in the match to 11 goals and create a nine-goal lead for the European side, 30:21.

Pereira, the top goal scorer of the last edition of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, nearly doubled his tally in this edition, improving from 12 goals before the match to 23, being now the second best scorer at Bulgaria 2025, eventually leading his team to a 33:27 win.

Finishing second in the group behind Bulgaria means that Great Britain will now face the United States of America in a crunch clash for a place in the last act, with neither of the two teams having ever played for the title at the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship.

Paraguay conceded their second loss in three matches and will now head to the Placement Matches, where they first meet the fourth-placed side in Group B, Azerbaijan.

Player of the Match: Francisco Pereira (Great Britain)