Germany is set to make history once again as the stage is prepared for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, marking the fourth time the nation plays host to handball’s premier global competition, following previous editions in 1965, 1997, and 2017. 

This time around, the event takes on a fresh dynamic as Germany joins forces with the Netherlands, sharing co-hosting duties and collective ambitions for a spectacular tournament. Past hosting experiences have delivered a wide range of results on German soil, with the team finishing twice with the bronze medal, and 12th in 2017.

That last experience is still fresh in the mind of some players, such as Xenia Smits or Emily Vogel, who are mainstays in the team and will hope for a better finish this time around, with Germany considered one of the big candidates for a quarter-finals berth, as they will be certainly favoured in Group C, which will take place in the Porsche-Arena in Stuttgart.

On paper, the group looks quite balanced, with three European sides and one team from South America – Uruguay, but Germany certainly have the upper hand against Serbia and Iceland, judging from the rosters, the home advantage, as well as the head-to-head record against their opponents.

Against Iceland, Germany have played four competitive matches over the last 15 years, starting with their shocking loss in their only meeting at the IHF Women’s World Championship. Back in 2011, when the Nordic side made their debut in the world handball flagship competition, a do-or-die clash between the two sides was won by Iceland, 26:20.

That helped Iceland progress to the Round of 16, at Germany’ s expense, but the co-hosts for this edition bounced back in their mutual meetings over the next years. First, Germany beat Iceland twice in the EHF EURO 2016 Qualifiers, 22:17 and 33:21, before their most recent meeting at the EHF EURO 2024.

Last December, in the preliminary round, the two teams met and Germany clinched a 30:19 win, as Nina Engel and Emily Vogel combined for 12 of Germany’s 30 goals in the match, their second 11-goal win in two matches.

Against Serbia, Germany played seven times over the last 17 years, with Germany taking five wins, one match ending in a draw and one match going Serbia’s way, at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship.

There was a plethora of comebacks for Serbia over the last year, with Andrea Lekić, Katarina Tomašević, Dragana Cvijić and Katarina Krpež Šlezak returning for the national team, all members of the team which won the silver medal in 2013. Following the aggregate win against Slovenia, which sealed Serbia’s spot in this competition, the first two retired, but the latter two players will probably be heading to Stuttgart, being nominated in the extended squad.

Serbia's only win against Germany came in the main round at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship, 29:28, while the only draw in the seven mutual matches was recorded at the 2017 IHF Women’s World Championship, when the two sides met in the preliminary round, also in Germany, in Leipzig.

Germany won the other five matches, including two in the Qualification Phase of the 2009 IHF Women’s World Championship, 29:24 and 22:19, and two other wins, 32:31 and 26:19 at the EHF EURO 2008 and EHF EURO 2016 respectively.

The two sides also met at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, in the main round, with Germany clearly outplaying Serbia, 31:21, to secure a place in the quarter-finals, which turned out to be a chance for Germany to finish sixth eventually in the standings, an uptick from the eighth place at Japan 2019 and the seventh place at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023.

The odd team out in this group seems to be Uruguay. They finished third at the 2024 South and Central American Women's Handball Championship, winning against Paraguay, Chile and El Salvador, but being clearly outplayed by Brazil (20:34) and Argentina (18:32).

Uruguay will return for the first time in 14 years at the IHF Women’s World Championship, having finished 20th in the previous edition, in 2011, their best result in history. However, they have won a single match from the 27 they played, 19:16 against Argentina in that edition of the competition.

They have never played against any of the three teams they will face, but their best result against any European side at the world handball flagship competition was a four-goal loss against Italy, 22:26, in 2001.

You can buy tickets for the 2025 IHF Women's World Championship here for the matches taking place in the Netherlands and here for the matches taking place in Germany.