The 4th IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship throws off on Wednesday, 16 September, in Granollers, Spain, with 12 teams at the start. Eight teams will take on the court, including the three podium-placed teams at the previous edition, champions Egypt, runners-up USA and bronze medallists Brazil.

GROUP A
20:00 CEST Libya vs Spain

GROUP B
12:00 CEST United States of America vs Japan

GROUP C
14:00 CEST Brazil vs Portugal

GROUP D
16:00 CEST Egypt vs Chile

Two teams have finished on the podium in the previous two events of the IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship – Egypt (champions in 2024 and runners-up in 2022) and Brazil (champions in 2022 and bronze medallists in 2024).

They will both take on the court on Wednesday in the inaugural day of the competition, with experienced opponents, Chile and Portugal respectively.

Egypt retained most of the core of the team intact from the previous two editions, including top scorer Magdy Talaat Abdo Abbas, and will be once again favoured to go all the way until the final.

The African powerhouse have previously beaten Chile twice in the previous two events in straight sets, 2:0, but in 2024, they needed plenty of grit to secure wins by a single point, 9:8 and 8:7 respecrively, in both sets.

Brazil and Portugal will meet for the first time and this match will surely provide plenty of drama, with the two sides measuring up fairly well. Two years ago, Portugal lost the quarter-final against France, after winning all three matches in the preliminary round and ended up seventh.

But with players like Joao Jeronimo, Portugal will always be a tough team to beat. Brazil, on the other hand, will miss a key player in Anderson Ferreira, yet they still hold a strong position, boasting a roster brimming with experience from the previous two editions of the event.

USA, with an entirely new team and staff, will also make their debut, as the opening match of the competition pits them against Japan. The Asian side is also gunning for a good result, as they finished fifth, after conceding a loss in the quarter-final against Egypt.

The day will finish with two debutants squaring off in Granollers, as hosts Spain take on Libya at 20:00 CEST. Spain have a long tradition in wheelchair handball and will now try to use their experience to secure the first points and ease their way into the quarter-finals.

Four teams – France in Group A, Australia in Group B, India in Group C and Lithuania in Group D – will open their campaigns on Thursday, when eight matches are scheduled and the preliminary round will end.