Hamburg welcomes the 23rd IHF Women’s World Championship as the 13,000-capacity Barclaycard Arena opens for business tomorrow with the four best women’s teams in the world in action as the semi-finals get underway.

The first semi-final features one of the best teams in the world, complete with a long history of success – Norway. The current World and European title holders will face one of the new kids on the block in Netherlands, silver medallists at both the last World and European championships, having lost to the Norwegians.

The second semi-final sees EHF EURO 2014 bronze medallists Sweden taking on 2016 Olympic runners-up and EHF EURO 2016 bronze medallists France, in what is an historic first semi-final for the Scandinavian team. 

All semi-finals will be played in Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg on Friday December 15. There are a variety of options to watch the games CLICK HERE for further details.

FRIDAY 15 DECEMBER
Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany

Semi-Final: Norway vs Netherlands 17:30 local time

A repeat of the 2015 final, Thorir Hergeirsson’s Norway and Helle Thomsen’s Netherlands are familiar foes in the past few years with the Norwegians gaining the upper hand on the past three occasions, although, the team in orange appear to be catching up:

20 December 2015 – Netherlands appear in their first-ever IHF Women’s World Championship final, and lose 31:23 (20:9) against Norway.

20 August 2016 – Netherlands appear in their first-ever Olympic Games bronze medal match, but lose versus Norway, 36:26 (19:13).

18 December 2016 – Netherlands appear in their first-ever Women’s EHF EURO final, but lose, against Norway, 30:29 (15:15).

If these games in such a short period of time are not enough to get to know each other, then many of the players are club teammates, including those at Hungarian side Gyori Audi ETO - Kari Aalvik Grimsbo (NOR), Nora Mork (NOR), Stine Oftedal (NOR) along with Yvette Broch (NED) and Nycke Groot (NED). Estavana Polman (NED) and Vilde Mortensen Ingstad are also club teammates, at Team Esbjerg.

Now, Netherlands are not on unfamiliar ground and are well-prepared to face a Norwegian side who have lost already in the competition, to fellow semi-finalists Sweden in the preliminary round. In the two teams’ quarter-finals, Netherlands were the more unconvincing, beating Czech Republic by four (30:26) in the end, in a game where the Czech side had plenty of chances to take numerous leads, and even win.

The Norwegians had their best performance of the tournament so far, beating Rio 2016 Olympic champions Russia 34:17 in what Hergeirsson described as “…one of the best games since I came along many years ago - it was fantastic.”

Lois Abbingh is the top scorer for the Dutch with 46 strikes while Tess Wester in goal has a 33% save ratio with 56 saves from 171 shots faced. Nora Mork has fired in 51 goals for Norway to be top of the pile of goals in her team, while the goalkeeping duo of Grimsbo and Katrine Lunde have an overall 44% save rate (120/270). Norway lead the scoring overall at Germany 2017 with 228 goals with Netherlands currently in fourth, behind Sweden (219) and Poland (207), having scored 205 times.

Semi-Final: Sweden vs France 20:45 local time
TV broadcast on beIN Sports and TMC in France.

For Sweden, it is the first ever semi-final at an IHF Women’s World Championship, while for France, it is the fifth time contesting the medal round. France won the world title in 2003, and claimed the silver medal three times – in 1999, 2009 and 2011. Sweden’s previous best result at the World Championship was sixth in 1993, making this an historic match for the Scandinavian team regardless of the result. 

But naturally, Sweden take the court aiming to reach the trophy match, and with their current form it seems they have everything necessary to upset the 2016 Olympic silver medallists and EHF EURO 2016 bronze medallists. Sweden have caused some big surprises at Germany 2017, as they won Group B after defeating defending champions Norway in the last preliminary round match, before showing excellent form to beat Slovenia in the eighth-final and Denmark in the quarter-final. 

Coach Henrik Signell can rely on a strong rotation of field players and two solid goalkeepers, both of whom were instrumental in the knock-out phase victories – with Johanna Bundsen recording a 48% rate in the eighth-final, before Filippa Idehn saved at 35% in the quarter-final. Signell deserves significant credit for leading his team to this stage, as their defensive tactics have been a crucial part of their victories – including keeping preliminary round top scorer Ana Gros to just four goals in the eighth-final. 

“We have good self-confidence now and we are really happy together,” said Sweden’s Nathalie Hagman after the quarter-final win. “Now we will go to Hamburg, and I hope we can win something there also.”

Sweden will find a tough opponent in France, who count all the same characteristics and more. France also have recent experience performing under pressure in important matches, which could be one significant difference that might prove the key when it comes to crunch time in what is likely to be a close match. France also have some of the best defence of any team in handball, and can easily switch between 6-0 and 5-1 with great efficacy. With the support of the exceptional Amandine Leynaud in goal, they will present a challenge for Sweden’s attack led by the tactical mastermind Isabelle Gullden.

Just like the semi-final clash before it, this encounter has all the makings of a thrilling 60 minutes to decide which side plays for the gold medal – and which must recover from a disappointing loss to fight for bronze.