No team has ever been so successful at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship like Denmark. In the previous eight editions played – the one in 2020, scheduled in Croatia, was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic – the Scandinavian side has secured six medals, including two gold ones, in 2006 and 2012.

Denmark have also finished second twice, in 2016 and 2022, and third twice, in 2008 and 2014. And for the fifth time in nine editions played in the world handball flagship competition for Under-18 players, they are back into the last act, after a 21:20 win against France, in the first semi-final at China 2024.

Now, Denmark have the chance to tie Russia as the team with the largest number of titles at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, when they take on Spain, the only unbeaten side at China 2024, after the first seven matches, in the last match of the competition.

And if Denmark want to win the match and become world champions once again, they will need another excellent performance from goalkeeper Freja Fonseca Nielsen, who has been one of the most consistent shot stoppers at China 2024 until the final.

Fonseca Nielsen – whose surname hails from a Brazilian grandfather – has delivered some fantastic performances and currently has 50 saves, for a 38.1% saving efficiency, sharing the duties with Zenia Hald Madsen, who has a 43.3% saving efficiency. 

But Fonseca Nielsen has been the first choice for both the quarter-final against Croatia, which Denmark won, 25:20, and the semi-final against France, where the Scandinavian side secured a 21:20 win.

“It has been an amazing ride and I am very happy that we are in the final. It has never been easy, but we believed in ourselves, we believed that we can be here and fight for the title and now we are only 60 minutes away of the title. Even when we were down, we managed to get ourselves back up,” says Fonseca Nielsen.

It has not been an easy ride, though, for Denmark, which lost a match in the main round against Hungary, 25:27, finishing second in their group. But against Croatia, in the quarter-finals, they always had the upper hand, finishing off with an excellent last 15 minutes to secure the win.

Against France, Denmark were down five goals in the 34th minute and had a meagre 36% shooting efficiency in the first half. But the runners-up at North Macedonia 2022, two years ago, were back in business in the last minutes, controlling the match. Fonseca Nielsen finished with a 31% saving efficiency and lifted Denmark to a 21:20 win.

Obviously, Denmark were ecstatic after that win, cheering and dancing, but they know there is another challenge waiting for them in the final, Spain, a team which has not lost so far in the competition and has one of the best defences at China 2024.

Yet Fonseca Nielsen is confident that she and her teammates will deliver the needed goods to win another gold for Denmark. 

“We know that it is going to be a tough match, but we showed that no challenge is difficult for us, even if we are some goals down. We will rest, prepare and hope we win the title,” says the goalkeeper.

The first title won by Denmark at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship was in 2006, when the team was led by another strong goalkeeper, much in the mould of Fonseca Nielsen, by the name of Sandra Toft, who went on to become the IHF Female World Player of the Year.

The second title came in 2012, when the team had players like Line Haugsted, Anne Mette Hansen or Mette Tranborg, all bronze medallists at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship.

But now, it is all about the current crop of players, with Fonseca Nielsen aiming to help her team secure another gold medal, just like one of her idols, Niklas Landin, did in the men’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And then, the possibilities are infinite.