After finishing third in 1974 at the CAHB African Women’s Championship, Egypt have never come close to securing a place at the IHF Women’s World Championship in the next 50 years.

They took part in eight editions of the domestic competition, but have never managed to finish higher than the fifth place, therefore making qualification impossible. But with the IHF Women’s World Championship expanding to 32 teams, a new door was created for Egypt to finally make their mark and secure an appearance.

The African side returned to the continental competition after 10 years, with a break between 2012 and 2022, and finished on the eighth place. But in the winds, a new generation was ready to grow of age, as proven by their performance at the 2022 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, when Egypt made the semi-finals and finished on the seventh place.

That meant that the ambition was there and immediately after these players gained more experience, as well as club level, with plenty featuring at continental powerhouse Al-Ahly, they were ready for the next step.

At the 2024 CAHB African Women’s Championship, Egypt started strong, with four wins in five matches in the preliminary round, with their only loss coming against Senegal, 16:21. Then, they made history in a fiery encounter against DR Congo, 22:21, in the quarter-finals, sealing that precious semi-finals spot and, in turn, a place at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship.

However, the gap between Egypt and the top teams in the continent is still there to be erased, as the semi-finals saw Mohamed Ahmed Farghaly’s side concede a 22:36 loss against Angola, and the bronze medal match was lost by Egypt, 22:25, against Tunisia.

Yet the learning curve is still steep for a team which has plenty of young players in their provisional roster. From the 35 nominated players, only four were born before 2000, which means Egypt will bring a very young team, but brimming with potential, at Germany/Netherlands 2025.

Plenty of those players were in the squad at the 2022 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship and at the 2024 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, ready to make the next step.

And Egypt will have a mountain to climb in their debut at the IHF Women’s World Championship, being drawn into Group E, with the Netherlands, Austria and Argentina, all sides which have featured in the previous editions of the competition and have plenty more experience than the African side.

In their preparations for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, Egypt have played a friendly tournament in North Macedonia, losing against Greece (22:25) and Tunisia (24:25), but winning against the hosts, 19:18, underlining their penchant for close, low-scoring matches.

Key players: Mariam Ibrahim Omar (left wing), Lojin Abdalla (left back), Ehsan Abdelnaeim (centre back)

Coach: Mohamed Ahmed Farghaly

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: 2024 CAHB African Women’s Championship: 4th place

History in tournament: Debutants

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group E (Netherlands, Austria, Argentina, Egypt)