Is there any consolation for the French handball players?

No gold again for the French handball players. With the semi-final defeat against Croatia, the French national team has missed out on reaching the final of the 2025 Handball World Cup. Instead, the bronze medal match against Portugal will now take place on Sunday. France is the clear favorite. The bookmakers are only offering odds of 1.33 for a France vs. Portugal handball tip on the six-time world champions.

The two nations have already met as part of their preparations for the World Cup. France won the high-scoring friendly against surprise package Portugal 44-38. It is quite possible that the game for third place will be another offensive spectacle. Betting on it is not out of the question. Portugal has already demonstrated its qualities in attack on several occasions.

Among other things, even in the semi-finals against the defending champion from Denmark. The Portuguese scored 27 goals against the tournament favorite. In return, however, it also rang 40 times in the box of the Portuguese national team.

France – Statistics & current form

France will not get revenge for the 2023 World Cup defeat after all. The team, coached by Guillaume Gille, missed out on a place in the World Cup final against co-hosts Croatia. As a result, their only chance is for the bronze medal. However, the third-place play-off is a tough one. France will face the surprise team from Portugal.

The French handball team’s opponents on Sunday have already eliminated the German national team from the competition, among others. Portugal also made a good impression in the semi-final, taking on the Danish handball team. If they take their momentum with them, a close match against France cannot be ruled out.

The two nations already met a few weeks ago during the preparation phase. France won that match 44:38, scoring 23 of those 44 goals before half-time. A high-scoring match is also quite likely in the match for third place. If the 63-goal mark is broken, odds in the 1.80 range are currently available in the betting apps of bookmakers.

France lost to Croatia 28-31 in the semi-finals. Guillaume Gille’s team was already trailing 11:18 in the first half. They managed to reduce the deficit to three goals at one point, but a comeback against the Croatian handballers was no longer possible. It was the first World Championship game in the current competition in which France did not break the 30-goal mark.

In the seven matches that preceded this one, the French national team scored 253 goals, an average of 36 goals per game. It is quite possible that they will at least match that in the match for third place. In two of their last three head-to-head encounters, France scored 30 or more goals against Portugal.

One of the factors in their success in this World Cup has been Dika Mem. The Barcelona backcourt player has caused a sensation with his strong goal scoring and scored eight goals in the semi-final against Croatia. If you want to bet on the 27-year-old’s next show, you can find goalscorer bets at Bet365, among others.

Portugal – Statistics & current form

Portugal caused an upset in the quarter-finals of the World Cup with their victory over the German national team. As expected, however, the Portuguese handballers failed in the next round against the tournament favorites. Portugal lost the semi-final against Denmark by a clear margin of 27:40.

Nevertheless, Paulo Pereira’s team will still get the chance to win a medal. For the first time ever, Portugal is represented in the third-place play-off. It would be the first major triumph at a European Championship, World Championship or Olympics for the Portuguese national handball team. As the bookmakers’ quotes make clear, the FPA handball players are the clear underdogs.

However, the head-to-head in the last encounters does not rule out an upset. Portugal have won twice in their last four internationals against France – including at the 2021 Olympics. If you therefore want to place a bet on the underdog in the France v Portugal game, you can use the Betano new customer bonus. There is also a free bet available there as soon as your account has been successfully verified.

Portugal are extremely dangerous in attack

The Portuguese national team’s offensive power is particularly impressive. In their last seven World Cup matches, Portugal has scored over 30 goals on five occasions. Paulo Pereira’s team also scored 37 goals against the Swedish national team in the group stage and swept Spain out of the hall 35:29.

If they take their momentum with them, it is likely that Portugal will also put up a fight against France. There is enough offensive power on both sides for that. Francisco Costa was recently one of the best shooters on the Portuguese national team. In two of his last three World Cup games, the 19-year-old scored eight or more goals in a game.

It is quite possible that “Kiko Costa”, as the youngster is also known, will be a factor in Portugal’s success against France.

France – Portugal Direct comparison / H2H record

Almost four years ago, the two nations last met at a World Championship. France won the 2021 World Championship duel 32-23 against Portugal, thus crowning themselves group winners. Portugal missed out on a place in the knockout phase of the 2021 World Championship with this defeat.

Since then, the two nations have met two more times. At the 2021 Olympics, Portugal won 29-28 against France. Four years later, the last meeting took place in preparation for the 2025 World Cup. France won the World Cup test against Portugal 44-38.

France will only get the chance to win the bronze medal in Oslo. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, as Guillaume Gille’s team played a strong World Cup and were among the favorites for the tournament until the semi-final against Croatia. After the disappointing semi-final performance against the Croatian handballers, “only” the third-place play-off is taking place on Sunday.

That encounter is much more important for their opponents from Portugal. For the first time ever, the Portuguese have the chance to win a title. So far, the Portuguese national team has never won a medal at a major tournament. In the current state, the underdog is quite capable of pulling off a coup.

We expect a match with a lot of goals and place our France vs. Portugal betting tip on odds of 1.75 on Over 62.5 goals in the game. AdmiralBet offers some of the best odds for this. We use five out of ten possible units for our forecast of at least 63 goals in the bronze medal game.