France clinched their maiden bronze medal at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, after an impressive display in the penultimate match at China 2026, 24:21, against Spain.

Bronze-medal match
France vs Spain 24:21 (16:11)

After four minutes of the bronze-medal match of the 2026 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, things were looking pretty clear: Spain had a 3:0 lead and looked dead serious to control the match until the end.

Everything went their way, with a strong attack delivering some easy goals, while the defence kept France at bay. And Spain looked to be the more experienced team, the one with better depth and starting so strong in such a crucial match is paramount.

Only that France were no pushovers. And coach Eric Baradat knew exactly what to do: not press the panic button, let the game flow and trust in his team. And sure enough, by the ninth minute, the score was tied, 4:4.

Two consecutive goals from left wing Jade Barbarin brought France back into the match, but it was their excellent defence which constantly frustrated Spain. In fact, the world champions from the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, were constantly finding themselves in tough situations, in a passive play situation.

Spain’s coach, Joaquin Rocamora Cases, even deployed a seven-on-six attack, but without much success, as France managed that situation expertly. The only thing missing? France to take the lead, as they made too many mistakes when shooting in clear-cut chances.

But after line player Elea Ferdilus converted her first shot, France took the lead, 10:9, and had a fantastic finish of the first half. In the last 14 minutes, they constantly frustrated Spain in attack, with their opponents only scoring twice.

And with 10 turnovers, Spain saw themselves falling behind, as France jumped to a 16:11 lead at the break, with goalkeeper Maelle Landriau also making some key saves, with her five stopped shots being, coincidentally, exactly the gap at the break, 16:11.

Between the 26th and the 35th minutes, Spain failed to score a goal, as misses kept piling up, enabling their opponents to go up seven goals, 18:11. But then France hit a snag and Spain came crawling back with three consecutive goals from Paula Lluch Rico cutting the gap to only three goals, 18:15.

Lluch continued to be used extensively by Spain, which needed to find more and more solutions, as their back line could breakthrough or find the much-needed shots, but in the end France was simply too strong in all areas on the court.

While the second half was low-scoring, and France had only seven goals in the first 23 minutes of the second part, coach Eric Baradat did not call a team time-out, being satisfied with how his team worked in defence.

France let Lluch become the top scorer of the match, with seven goals, but their lead from early in the second half was too much for Spain to cut into. Key turnovers turned into steals in defence for France – three in total in the second half – as France eventually secured a 24:21 win and a place on the podium at the 2026 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship.

Two years after winning the competition, France now return on the podium at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, with yet another generation of players ready to make the step for the senior team.

On the other hand, Spain, the reigning champions in the youth category, missed the chance to clinch their first medal, tying their best performance, fourth place, from 2001 and 2008.

Player of the Match: Claire Koestner (France)