The fourth matchday of the women’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is ready to deliver more quarter-finalists, after France were the first team to secure that ticket on Tuesday, after their third consecutive win.

Group A and B are also balanced and will provide interesting matches, with some of them potentially marking record-breaking performances. Let’s see what we can expect in the six-match card on Thursday, in another full day in the South Paris Arena 6.

GROUP A

• 11:00 CEST Republic of Korea vs Sweden
• 19:00 CEST Germany vs Denmark
• 21:00 CEST Slovenia vs Norway

GROUP B

• 09:00 CEST Netherlands vs Brazil
• 14:00 CEST Spain vs Hungary
• 16:00 CEST Angola vs France

Three quarter-finalists to be decided in Group A? Sweden, Denmark and Norway, the three Scandinavian sides in Group A in the women’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, all have four points, with two wins and one loss. In a three-way tie, Norway would be the first-placed side, with a +7 goal difference, Sweden the second, with a +2 goal difference, while Denmark would finish third, with a -7 goal difference. But all three can progress to the knockout phase provided they secure wins against the Republic of Korea, Germany and Slovenia on Thursday, in matches where they will start as favourites.

New milestones for the reigning Olympic champions: France have already tied the number of wins secured at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. They also made the quarter-finals and need a single win to clinch the first place in the group. A win against Angola would ensure that, as well as the best start in history at the Olympics, with four wins. The reigning Olympic champions would also seal their 29th win in the competition, the third highest tally. On the other hand, Angola need a win to ensure safe passage to the quarter-finals for the second time in history. When the two teams met in a friendly match before Paris 2024, three weeks ago, France clinched a clear 33:20 win.

Can the Netherlands join France in the quarter-finals? The Dutch side finished fourth and fifth in the previous appearances at the Olympics – Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 – and they could very well secure a place in the top eight teams in the world once again, provided they secure a win against Brazil. Per Johansson’s side has 91 goals scored after three matches – joint top with Germany in this respect – and are facing a Brazil side which need a win to stay in the hunt, after opening their account in the first match against Spain and then conceding losses against Hungary and France. With only two points ahead of Brazil in the standings, this is a pivotal match for both sides.

Win or go home for Spain: Only one team in the women’s handball competition has not tasted the sweet savour of victory at Paris 2024, and Spain are now facing a must-win situation when they face Hungary in the South Paris Arena 6. Scoring the lowest number of goals (63) tells the whole story, as Ambros Martin’s side needs to bounce back and deliver a good performance if they are to stay in the hunt. Lose here and they are out of contention, as they have a three-point deficit already behind Hungary and Angola, which are third and fourth respectively in the standings.

Two Swedish coaches face off in the Republic of Korea vs Sweden battle: Henrik Signell coached Sweden women’s national team between 2016 and 2020, leading them at Rio 2016. His replacement was Tomas Axnér, the current Sweden coach, who overlooked Sweden’s fourth-place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The two will face off on Thursday, as the Republic of Korea face a must-win match to stay in the hunt for a place in the quarter-finals. Signell is the second foreign coach in the history of the Korea women’s handball team, replacing Kim Rasmussen in 2023.

Can Germany break the Danish hoodoo? Denmark have been living on the edge, being close to concede their second loss in a row at Paris 2024, only for their defence to take over and lift the team to a 25:23 win over Sweden, after their opponents did not score a goal in the last nine minutes of the match. This time around, Denmark are facing Germany, a team which they have been dominating over the last 20 years. In that time, they meet 10 times, with Denmark taking eight wins, one match ending in a draw and Germany taking a 26:25 win at the 2017 IHF Women’s World Championship. The two sides also met at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship last December and Denmark took a 30:28 win on home court, in Herning.

Slovenia need maiden win against Norway to stay alive: The gap between Norway and Slovenia has been huge in the last 20 years. The two sides have met eight times in major international competitions and the balance tilted into Norway’s favour eight times. The average margin of win for Norway? 12.75 goals per match, an incredible one, with the Scandinavian side registering two 23-goal wins, two 16-goal wins and one 13-goal win in that period. The latter came in December, at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, when Norway dominated Slovenia on their home court, therefore Slovenia need to bounce back quick, as there is no time for lamenting Monday’s 19-goal loss against Germany.

Nine goals between Nora Mørk and history: Norway’s right back entered the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the third best scorer in the history of the competition, with 114 goals, only 21 goals shy of the all-time record, currently held by Brazilian right wing Alexandra do Nascimento. Mørk scored 12 goals so far at Paris 2024, that means she needs only nine goals to tie the all-time record and 10 to break it. With Norway close to a quarter-finals berth, that means that the right back will have at least three matches to break this record, provided the Scandinavian side makes it to the knockout phase of the competition. A penalty taker for Norway, Mørk has a 67% efficiency so far, scoring 12 goals from the 18 shots she took. (UPDATE 22:00 CEST / This preview was written before Norway announced that Mørk will be replaced by Thale Rushfeldt Deila in the team's 14-player roster for the match against Slovenia).

Top goalkeeping performances to watch: At 44 years old, Katrine Lunde is featuring at her fifth edition of the Olympic Games and boasts an otherworldly save efficiency of 44%, stopping 32 of the 72 shots she faced so far. The podium is completed by two other Scandinavian goalkeepers – Denmark’s Althea Reinhardt (19 saves for a 39% saving efficiency) and Sweden’s Johanna Bundsen (47 saves for a 38% saving efficiency). Bundsen also made the largest number of saves, 47, 11 more than Brazil’s Gabriela Moreschi, 36.

The brains behind the game: Counting goals is definitely one of the favourite ways to judge a performance in handball. Others tend to look at who is behind those goals. Currently, one players is totally dominating the assists standings, with Norway’s centre back, Stine Bredal Oftedal, having 21 assists, six more than any other player in the competition. In fact, Oftedal had 21 assists and 11 goals, with a direct hand in 32 of Norway’s 81 goals, or a stunning 39.5%. On the second place in the goals+assists standings is Angola’s Vilma Nenganga, who has 18 goals and 13 assists, while Brazil’s Bruna de Paula has scored 17 times and dished 13 assists. Coincidentally, all three are their team’s centre backs.