After winning silver on their IHF Women’s World Championship debut as Serbia – back in 2013 as hosts – the European side has failed to podium again despite being ever-presents in all five editions since.

In fact, last time out in 2023, they recorded their worst-ever ranking, finishing 21st at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 having lost two of their three preliminary group games (against Denmark and Romania), only beating Chile, and then suffering defeats in all three of their main round games – against Poland, Japan and Germany/Netherlands 2025 group opponents and co-hosts Germany.

Their loss against Germany was comprehensive – 31:21 – and was part of a run under Slovenian coach Uros Bregar which saw just that solitary victory against the Chileans across 12 matches in the 2022 European Championship, 2023 World Championship and 2024 European Championship – the final event seeing losses in all three games ending with Bregar sacked after three years in a role.

A few weeks after Bregar left – two of the biggest Serbian handball stars of the past decade in Andrea Lekić and Dragana Cvijić announced their intentions to return to playing, along with captain Katarina Krpež-Šlezak, all with the aim of helping their nation qualify for Germany/Netherlands 2025.

Under the guidance of Norwegian coach Bent Dahl, Serbia overcame Slovenia in their European play-off, drawing the first leg (29:29) away in Celje and then winning the second 33:31 at home in Bor to take a 62:60 aggregate win – Lekić scoring 14 across the two legs and Cvijić 10.

But Lekić will not take to the court in Stuttgart, where Serbia will face Uruguay, Iceland and Germany in their preliminary group – she will be on the bench, as part of the management team following her announcement last April that she was retiring from “26 years of running after a ball…”.

Lekić – the 2013 IHF Women’s Player of the Year – will be at the event officially as team manager, but her experience and presence will be warmly-welcomed and encouraged by new coach, Jose Ignacio Prades Pons, who was announced in late August.

“A new story in my career is beginning and I am very happy that it will be in Serbian handball. I am aware of the weight and responsibility of the job, but I am ready to work with full dedication from day one,” said Lekić to the Serbian Handball Federation.

“The goals are, just like when I was on the field, always high. Now I am primarily thinking about the prosperity of handball, expanding the base, working with younger teams, and I have plans and a vision of how that should look. I think we have quality and good younger teams, with good work that is already visible, I want those kids to grow into good and quality players. That should be a common goal for all of us. 

“I am happy to be building the future of handball in my country and I believe that with a team of professional and genuine people, we will go step-by-step towards achieving our goal.”

Coach Prades was most recently assistant to Ambros Martin as part of the Spain women’s set-up, but had led the side as head coach from 2021-23.

“We're very excited about our participation in the world championship and we're going with great enthusiasm and ambition. We'll try to compete to the best of our ability. We have a lot of respect for all our opponents,” said Prades to ihf.info.

“We're starting with an unknown opponent, Uruguay, which makes them even more dangerous and also since the first matches are always the most difficult to manage. Iceland are always a very tough opponent, and Germany, as the co-hosts, will be one of the favourites.”

With Serbia looking to the future – their EHF Master Plan project from 2024-2027 wants to restore the cult status of the national teams, and children’s interest in handball (with a focus from age 6-10 years old) – the next generation is already here with Jovana Jovović, who will turn 24 during the tournament, a key player.

Six years ago she became the youngest debutant for the national side, playing at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship in Japan at 17 years and 11 months old.

The DVSC Schaeffler centre back – who is a big fan of assists – credits Lekić as her idol and inspiration growing up and now, having played with her, a friend.

Jovovic, Prades, plus Cvijić, Risovic and captain Krpež-Šlezak – the only three remaining members of the 2013 silver medallists who have been named on the provisional squad list – will all be relishing the chance to face co-hosts Germany, who have they have played eight times in total, winning just once, losing five times and drawing twice.

Three of those games have come at IHF Women’s World Championships, the 2023 10-goal loss the most recent. Serbia beat Germany at Japan 2019 (29:28) and the two drew in Leipzig at Germany 2017 (22:22) in the preliminary round.

Ahead of the world championship, Serbia will get their European Championship qualification campaign underway with a match at home against Lithuania, which they won, 43:34, and in Slovakia, against Ukraine (October 19th).

“It is very important that we start these European Championship qualifiers with two wins and open this chapter in the best possible way,” said the coach. “Playing in Belgrade in front of the home crowd will be something special for all of us, the girls are happy about it and I believe they will give a great game. We need all the support of the fans to start this cycle in the right way.”

Key players: Dragana Cvijić (line player), Katarina Krpež Šlezak (right wing), Jovana Jovović (left back)

Coach: Jose Ignacio Prades Pons

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: European Qualifiers – Phase 2: 62:60 on aggregate against Slovenia

History in tournament: 2013: 2nd, 2015: 15th, 2017: 9th, 2019: 6th, 2021: 12th, 2023: 21st

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group C (Germany, Serbia, Iceland, Uruguay)