Poland recorded their best-ever streak at the IHF Women’s World Championship back in 2013 and 2015, when they made the semi-finals twice, but failed to secure a medal, ending up on the fourth place each time.

That golden generation has been replaced by a one which has constantly strived to improve, however the results have been mixed. In 2017, Poland ended up on the 17th place, failing to qualify from the preliminary round. Two years later, at Japan 2019, they failed to make the cut for the competition.

Returning in 2021, Poland finished on the 15th place, and at the last edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship, the European side almost mirrored that results, ending up on the 16th place. Therefore, it’s been 10 years since Poland made the top-10 at a World Championship, something they would certainly want to correct now.

“We need to be patient and remember that we won't revolutionize our game in a week. However, over time, we'll want to add a few new things to our game, which we'd like to use at the upcoming World Championship," said coach Arne Senstad for the website of the Polish Handball Federation.

Senstad is one of the longest-tenured coaches at this edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship, being Poland’s head coach for six years now, after his appointment in 2019. He knows the team inside out, but will have some headaches making the selection, especially in the line player position, where Sylwia Matuszczyk and Marlena Urbańska retired.

Therefore, new blood is needed for Poland, but they will certainly be buoyed by their previous result at a major international competition, as they finished ninth at the EHF EURO 2024 last December.

There, they progressed into the main round with a crucial win against Spain, but their results against the top teams, such as a 22:35 loss against France, a 25:33 loss against Sweden and a 21:31 loss against Hungary, show that Poland still have plenty to work on.

“I know that as the tournament gets closer, the expectations will grow. At the last European Championship, we finished ninth, a very good result that we put a lot of effort into. The next step forward would be to advance to the quarter-finals at the World Championship, but reaching the top eight will be a very difficult task,” says Senstad.

“In the group stage, we'll play one of the tournament's favorites, France. If we qualify, we'll face a very strong Netherlands team, who will be playing at home. If we dream of reaching the quarter-finals, we have to beat one of these teams, and that will be very difficult, and we need to be clear about that. However, we'll be working hard in the coming months to build the strongest possible team for the championship, one that will be able to compete against theoretically stronger opponents.”

Despite the new wave of players coming in, there are plenty of experienced stalwarts, like Monika Kobylińska or Adrianna Płaczek, who have over 100 caps for the Poland national team.

In the last two official matches played by Poland in October, they won at home against Slovakia, 28:20, and lost an away match against Romania, 29:34, in the EHF Euro Cup 2026.

Key players: Monika Kobylińska (right back), Magda Balsam (right wing), Adrianna Płaczek (goalkeeper)

Coach: Arne Senstad

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: Qualification Europe – Phase 2: 45:39 on aggregate against North Macedonia

History in tournament: 1957: 7th, 1962: 7th, 1965: 8th, 1973: 5th, 1975: 7th, 1978: 6th, 1986: 13th, 1990: 9th, 1993: 10th, 1997: 8th, 1999: 11th, 2005: 19th, 2007: 11th, 2013: 4th, 2015: 4th, 2017: 17th, 2021: 15th, 2023: 16th 

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group F (France, Poland, Tunisia, People’s Republic of China)