The IHF Council has decided that the second wild card available for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship in Germany and the Netherlands will be awarded to the Croatian Handball Federation.

Following the conclusion of the global qualification events for the championship, the IHF received formal wild card applications from four national federations: Croatia, Lithuania, North Macedonia and Slovenia.

Since the inception of the wild card system for senior IHF World Championship events, the IHF has maintained that no fixed criteria shall govern the allocation of wild cards. Instead, a range of factors are considered, including the general evolution and popularity of handball in the applicant country, recent sporting performances and the potential impact of participation on the sport’s global development.

In evaluating these criteria, the IHF Council noted the widespread popularity of handball in Croatia – demonstrated by the record-breaking viewership during the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, in which the Croatian men’s national team earned the silver medal. The Croatian women's team also displayed a commendable performance during the European Qualification Phase 2, narrowly losing to Spain 44:49 on aggregate, with a 27:26 win on their home court.

Croatia has also made significant contributions to the global development of handball by hosting several major international events, including younger age-category competitions such as the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, and the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.

Taking all factors into account, the IHF Council approved Croatia’s request. One of the two wild cards for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship has thus been granted to Croatia, while the other was previously awarded to the People’s Republic of China.

This will mark Croatia’s ninth appearance in the premier women’s handball competition. The nation’s best result to date was a sixth-place finish at the 1997 edition in Germany. More recently, Croatia placed 18th at Spain 2021 and 14th at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023.

With the full line-up now confirmed for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, the competition will feature 18 teams from Europe, five from Asia, four from Africa, four from the South and Central America Confederation, and one from the North America and the Caribbean Confederation.

Furthermore, the German Handball Federation contacted the IHF on 29 April 2025, proposing to assign the Faroe Islands to Group D in Trier, as the Organising Committee would like to ensure that enough match tickets can be offered to all fans from the Faroe Islands, considering that the ticket sales, especially for the preliminary round groups of the host countries, are running very well

The request has been granted and the Faroe Islands will be part of Group D.

2025 IHF Women’s World Championship line-up

Europe: Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
Africa: Angola, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia
Asia: Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea
South and Central America: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
North America and Caribbean: Cuba