At the 2022 African Men's Youth Championship in early September, Burundi qualified for the IHF Men's Youth (U19) World Championship. It is their first appearance in the younger age competition as they are one of the six newcomers to the competition. 

However, the road was not easy. Burundi had a challenging start to the 2022 African Men's Youth Championship held in Kigali, Rwanda. Their first match got cancelled and scored 10:0 to Morocco. The next day they tied with Libya after trailing by two at half-time and in their last group phase match, they won with eleven goals against Uganda which secured them a spot in the semi-final. 

They faced Egypt in the semi-final, the eventual champions of the competition, and were left without the slightest chance. In the bronze medal match, they finally played against Morocco, losing in a high-scoring final match, ranking in fourth place. Since five of the eight teams qualified for the IHF Men's Youth (U19) World Championship, their fourth place was their ticket to Croatia. 

In preparation for the tournament, they played two friendly matches in April against Rwanda, who had won the silver medal at the African Championship. While it was a head-to-head race in the first match, which ended with one more goal on Rwanda's account, the second match went better for their opponents, who defeated Burundi by 43:37. 

At Croatia 2023, Burundi will face a strong group. Although they are not the only newcomers in Group H, the Faroe Islands are to be rated better. In addition, they will meet the Men's 18 EHF EURO 2022 runners-up Sweden and the Islamic Republic of Iran, who finished second at the 2022 Asian Men's Youth Handball Championship.

Key players: Benin Ndayiradije (right back), Kevin Irumva (left wing), Daniel Karakura (centre back)

Qualification for Croatia 2023: 2022 African Men's Youth Handball Championship – 4th

History in tournament: Debutants

Group at Croatia 2023: Group H (Sweden, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faroe Islands, Burundi)