Since establishing themselves as a top force in women’s handball, Sweden have always been delivering good performances at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, including two top-6 finishes in the previous three editions, culminating with the fourth place at Slovenia 2022.

Development of young players is key for Sweden, which have constantly proven that they can master this art and the performance two years ago just underlined their huge potential, while this generation, which will feature at North Macedonia 2024, finished sixth at the 2022 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, which also took place in North Macedonia.

The Scandinavian side, which will feature in their 15th edition of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, also delivered a good performance at the continental championship last summer, when they ended up on the fifth place at the W19 EHF EURO 2023 in Romania, yet they fell off the mark against the hosts and Portugal in the main round, missing out on a potential medal.

Experience is important at this level and this is what Sweden brings, with several players from IK Sävehof, players who featured in the EHF Champions League Women and in the domestic league this previous season, with stalwarts like Emma Mihailovic leading the pack. Left wing Stella Huselius is missing out, but Sweden are still a strong side nevertheless.

A group featuring Sweden, Czechia, China and Algeria should see the Scandinavian side progress to the main round, yet crossing paths with two of France, Germany, Serbia and Spain might be a difficult moment for Sweden, which will need better performances in crunch matches to replicate their performance from two years ago.

Key players: Stina Wikfors (centre back), Emma Mihailovic (left back), Ida Wall (goalkeeper) 

Qualification: W19 EHF EURO 2023: 5th 

History in the competition: 1983: 6th, 1987: 10th, 1989: 5th, 1991: 4th, 1993: 9th, 2001: 8th, 2003: 6th, 2005: 18th, 2010: 8th, 2012: Winners, 2014: 13th, 2016: 6th, 2018: 12th, 2022: 4th 

Group at North Macedonia 2024: Group E (Sweden, Czechia, People’s Republic of China, Algeria)