The Icelandic men’s national handball team lost the semi-final match in the EHF European Handball Championships in Austria.

The hard-fought match ended 28-36 in France’s favour, leaving the French team on course to be the only team ever to hold the European, world and Olympic handball titles at the same time.

Iceland managed to keep the scores consistently even during the first half; but were overpowered by French speed and bulletproof defence during the second half.

Iceland will play either Croatia or Poland tomorrow for third place. France will play the other of those two teams in the final, also tomorrow.

The Icelandic team’s appearance in a second major international semi-final match in a row is seen as proof that the team’s Olympic success was no mere stroke of luck.