Despite laying claim to having one of the best women’s teams in the world in the early 2010s, following their London 2012 Olympic Games silver and European Championship gold the same year, Montenegro have never finished higher than fifth in an IHF Women’s World Championship.

However, Germany/Netherlands 2025 represents the 19th major competition qualified for the Montenegrins since their independence in 2006 and subsequent international competition debut at the 2010 European Championship – the team missing qualification for just one major competition, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

A European bronze medal at their co-hosted European championship back in 2022, highlights the potential of the next generation, but the spirit of 2012 still echoes within the squad with former player Suzana Lazovic in charge of the team, taking over head coaching roles from fellow 2012 teammate, the legendary Bojana Popovic, last year.

Lazović will face her first world championship as head coach, knowing what a world championship podium spot means having won youth world championship bronze back in 2010 as a player.

Unlike two years ago, when Popović missed the influential Djurdjina Jauković to injury, Lazović can count on the towering left back, who is now captaining her side along with potential new players in the squad, including Marija Marsenić, Andrea Skerović, Elena Mitrović, Marija Bozović and Natlija Lekić.

After finishing eighth at the 2024 European Championship, familiar names Milena Raičević, Marta Batinović, Marina Rajčić and Jelena Radivojević all retired from national team duties as the ‘Lavice (Lionesses)’ look to the future.

In Germany, Montenegro will open their preliminary group campaign in Trier against Faroe Islands, followed by Paraguay and then Spain.

The Europeans have played the South Americans twice, winning both, including a 41:26 preliminary group win at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, while their head-to-head against Spain is equal, with four wins, one draw and four losses.

The Lionesses played Faroe Islands on Saturday 18 October in their European Championship qualification clash, taking a 32:26 (14:14) victory away in Torshavn. This followed an opening qualification win, against Portugal a few days earlier – the same team they beat in the European qualification play-off to grab a place at the 2025 IHF Women's World Championship.

“When you look at the composition of all the groups at the world championship, the impression is that we were fortunate with the draw and that we avoided the strongest national teams. No team should be underestimated anymore, especially considering that the level of handball outside Europe has risen significantly,” said Lazović to ihf.info, looking ahead to throwing off her world championship coaching career in November.

“Spain are among the best teams in world handball, while we had the opportunity to face the Faroe Islands in the European Championship qualifiers and were very happy with the victory. They play fast one-on-one handball, and we needed to adjust our defence a little at half-time [to win].

“Paraguay is a team that has been improving year by year and showing real quality and since Montenegro played them at the last world championship they have has made notable progress and will certainly be better prepared for our style of play this time. Although it is an atypical opponent, we could have drawn a rival from Africa or Asia who might have caused us more difficulties than Paraguay.”

And for Jauković, she is very clear about what she wants her team to achieve.

“Our goal should be to carry the maximum number of points into the main round, after which we will face a big challenge in a group that will include, among others, the host nation Germany,” said the CSM București player.

“I believe we can play against all opponents. We often repeat this, but it is truly most important that we have our full squad and that all players are healthy at the start of the championship — if that is the case, everything is possible.”

Key players: Djurdjina Jauković (left back), Tatjana Brnović (line player), Matea Pletikosić (centre back), Armelle Attingre (goalkeeper)

Coach: Suzana Lazović

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: European Qualifiers – Phase 2: 61:45 on aggregate against Portugal

History in tournament: 2011: 10th, 2013: 11th, 2015: 8th, 2017: 6th, 2019: 5th, 2021: 22nd, 2023: 7th

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group D (Montenegro, Spain, Faroe Islands, Paraguay)