The Islamic Republic of Iran are aiming to become a staple of Asian women’s handball and after making their debut at the IHF Women’s World Championship in all categories – senior, junior and youth - in the last three years, now they are trying to establish thelsemves and feature on the highest level.

This is the second edition of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in which the Islamic Republic of Iran are taking part in and two years ago, at Slovenia 2022, they secured a win and finished on the 30th place, avoiding a last-place finish.

That was a win in itself, but this time around Iran want more. The Asian side will have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the first 16 places, meaning that they need to beat two of their three opponents in Group A – Romania, Netherlands and Brazil – which is a daunting task in itself.

Nevertheless, Iran will aim to capitalise on the experience of their players, especially left back Fatemeh Merikh, who has been superb two years ago at the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship and at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, but also finished on the 10th place in the top goal scorer standings at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship.

Iran still have a lot of development ahead, as they finished only fifth at the 2023 AHF Asian Women's Junior Handball Championship, sealing the last place for North Macedonia 2024, therefore they will be the big underdog in this group.

Key players: Maede Oshaghi (left wing), Nastaran Koudzarifarahani (left back), Fatemeh Merikh (left back)
Qualification: 2023 Asian Women's Junior Handball Championship: 5th
History in the competition: 2022: 30th
Group at North Macedonia 2024: Group A (Romania, Netherlands, Brazil, Islamic Republic of Iran)