Serbia and Montenegro will play for the fifth place at the 2026 IHF Women's Junior World Championship, after wins against Japan and Norway, while Croatia won the President's Cup with a 29:26 win against Egypt.

Placement Matches 5/8
Montenegro vs Norway 30:28 (16:10)

Montenegro bounced back from a devastating 23:33 defeat against France in the quarter-finals, as they proved too strong for Norway and will fight for fifth place on Sunday. The Balkan side have already secured their highest ranking at the IHF Women's Junior World Championship since 2010, while Norway will finish China 2026 in the Placement Match 7-8.

The opponents were tied at 2:2 four minutes into the match before Teodora Roncević's string of saves helped Montenegro pull away following a 5:0 run. Then Norway found their rhythm in attack and slashed the gap to two goals on a couple of occasions, but another strong run, this time 5:1 before the break, saw the Balkan team increase their lead to six goals.

In the second half, Montenegro continued to dominate, as Player of the Match Elena Mitrović scored nine goals in this match and Nina Ramusović added seven more. With seven minutes to play, the Balkan team led 27:20, and although Norway had a strong finish and cut the gap to just two goals, Montenegro held their nerve to take the win.

Player of the Match: Elena Mitrović (Montenegro)

Serbia vs Japan 29:27 (15:14)

In a hard-fought match, Serbia proved too strong for Japan and will finish China 2026 with the Placement Match 5-6 against Montenegro. In turn, the Asian side will wrap up the tournament with the Placement Match 7-8 against Norway.

Japan started the game better, opening up a 3:1 lead, but Serbia were quick to respond with a 3:0 run. A very tight battle followed in the next 20 minutes, with neither side able to create even a two-goal gap. Mia Nedeljković stepped up late in the first half, helping Serbia pull clear at 15:12, but the Asians cut the deficit to one goal by the interval.

In the second half, Serbia had the upper hand for a long time and constantly led by several goals. Their top scorer Sara Radović recorded eight goals in this game, while Milica Otašević and Mia Nedeljković each added six more. The gap between the sides reached four goals a few times, last at 28:24 with four minutes remaining.

Japan showed character, and three unanswered goals helped them slash the gap to just one goal, 28:29, with 53 seconds to go. But following a timeout, Player of the Match Nedeljković delivered the final goal of the match to secure Serbia's win.

Player of the Match: Mia Nedeljković (Serbia)

Placement Match 17/18 – President’s Cup final
Egypt v Croatia 26:29 (11:12)

Just like at the previous edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship, in 2025, Croatia secured the President’s Cup and, in turn, finish on the 17th place in the final standings, after taking a 29:26 win against Egypt.

Arguably drawn in the most balanced preliminary round of the competition, Croatia did beat Japan, but failed against the Faroe Islands and Norway, therefore going into the President’s Cup. But there, the European side won four out of four, to win this phase of the competition.

Egypt had already provided some surprises throughout the competition, but here they were down from the start, and the five-goal gap, 2:7, after 10 minutes, proved too much for the African side to come back from.

While goalkeeper Gihad Sayed tried her utmost, she could not rise to the same overall percentage she had in the competition, and Croatia had in Mirna Brusić a player who could not be stopped.

In total, Brusić scored 14 goals, taking her overall tally to 44 goals in the competition, and Croatia managed the lead carefully, despite allowing Egypt to come to a single goal at the break.

With the 29:26 win, Croatia finished 17th and won the President’s Cup, while Egypt ended up 18th.

Player of the Match: Lara Pudić (Croatia)

Placement Match 19/20
Iceland v Brazil 30:27 (15:14)

Ásthildur Thórhallsdóttir and Gudrún Hekla Traustadóttir – Iceland’s top scorers - combined for 15 goals in this match, to lift Iceland to a 19th place finish, as the two sides went head-to-head until the end.

However, Brazil never held the lead throughout the match and they were more turnover prone, as well as having a lower efficiency than Iceland, but the most important stat was the goalkeeping efficiency, with Brazil being way behind Iceland.

Sif Hallgrímsdóttir had 14 saves for Iceland, most of which came in crucial moments, with the European side transforming a 15:14 lead at the break into a 22:18 lead after 40 minutes. While Brazil did manage to cut the lead to a single goal, 24:23, Iceland scored six times in the last seven minutes to secure a 30:27 win and finish 19th.

Brazil ended up on the 20th position, their second-lowest ranking in history, after the 22nd place in 2022.

Placement Match 27/28
Guinea v Tunisia 25:34 (11:15)

The all-African derby between Guinea and Tunisia saw the latter dominate and take the win, finishing China 2026 on a high, after they secured their third win in seven matches in the competition.

While the 27th place is the lowest finish for Tunisia, they will still consider this as a good test, especially due to the quality of the opponents they faced.

In their last match in the competition, Tunisia took an early lead and never looked back, with May Yazidi, Eya Khelifi and Sirine Ferchichi scoring 18 goals between them, for a 34:25 win, where Tunisia won the turnover battle, the goalkeeping battle, as well as the shooting efficiency battle.

Placement Match 25/26
Paraguay v Türkiye 22:27 (12:11)

In their return after nearly three decades at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, Türkiye ended up on the 25th place, with an excellent display, plenty of consistency and some close results against more experienced teams.

Their last match provided a win, 27:22, against Paraguay, but the European side had to sweat after being down one goal at the break, 11:12.

Buket Seven, Türkiye’s best player, scored eight goals and had four assists, engineering a strong second half for David Ginesta’s side, who ended up on the 25th place, as Paraguay finished 26th.