Romania’s second-half goals jumped from four to 17 at the EURO Cup Finals

Romania scored four second-half goals against Denmark, then 17 against Hungary at the 2026 Women’s EHF EURO Cup Finals in Bucharest on 26–27 September. They lost the semi-final 20:28 before winning the bronze-medal match 33:30.

The striking comparison is that Romania scored 16 goals in the first half of both matches. The 13-goal increase in their own match tally came entirely after the break.

The half-by-half scores

All scores below put Romania first, regardless of the official fixture order. Second-half scores are calculated by subtracting the half-time score from the final result.

Match	First half	Second half	Final score	Combined second-half goals
Semi-final, 26 September: vs Denmark	16:17	4:11	20:28	15
Bronze match, 27 September: vs Hungary	16:16	17:14	33:30	31

Sources: EHF’s official Denmark–Romania report and Hungary–Romania report.

“Second-half goals” can mean either Romania’s own tally or both teams’ combined total. Against Denmark, those numbers were four and 15; against Hungary, 17 and 31.

Against Denmark: four goals in 30 minutes

Romania trailed by only one at half-time, but Denmark outscored them 11:4 after the restart. That seven-goal difference turned a narrow deficit into an eight-goal defeat.

EHF reports that Romania failed to score for eight minutes immediately after the break and managed only two goals in the first 18 minutes of the half. They also missed three penalty shots. Denmark’s mobile defence and Anna Kristensen’s goalkeeping were central to Romania’s scoring collapse; Kristensen finished with 15 saves across the match, not just the second half. (EHF match report)

Romania’s scoring fell from 16 goals before half-time to four afterwards—a 75% reduction. Denmark also scored fewer goals in the second half than in the first, so this was not simply a Danish attacking surge. The decisive feature was Romania’s much sharper drop.

Against Hungary: 17 goals and two important runs

The bronze match began its second half level at 16:16. Romania opened with a 5:1 run, producing a 21:17 lead. EHF identifies line player Lorena Ostase as important in that spell and notes that Romania had already exceeded their entire previous day’s second-half tally within six minutes of restarting.

Hungary recovered to draw level, so the opening burst did not settle the match. Romania later converted four Hungarian turnovers into four unanswered goals, moving ahead 29:25. Goalkeeper Bianca Curment helped protect the advantage in the closing stages, and Romania finished 33:30. (EHF bronze-match report)

Romania won this half 17:14. Their scoring was nearly unchanged from the first half; the dramatic improvement was relative to the Denmark match. These goal counts measure scoring output, not shooting percentage or goals per possession, so they do not quantify how much of the difference came from finishing versus extra attacking opportunities.

EURO Cup, not the European Championship

These were senior women’s national-team matches in the EHF EURO Cup, not the Women’s EHF EURO championship. The Cup runs alongside EURO qualifying for teams already qualified for the championship; the 2026 edition introduced a four-team finals tournament after its group phase. (EHF competition explainer)

For the title match from the same weekend, see our Denmark–Norway EURO Cup scoring breakdown.