Two years ago, at Egypt 2021, Argentina delivered their best-ever performance at the IHF Men’s World Championship, finishing on 11th place. Only a loss against Qatar in the last match of the main round blocked the South American team’s way through to the knockout phase.

Argentina saw some experienced players ending their careers, like line player Gonzalo Carou, from that roster. Still, stalwarts like Diego Simonet are back at Poland/Sweden 2023. Yet, after being drawn in Group F, they will need some excellent matches alongside three European sides – Norway, North Macedonia and the Netherlands.

Argentina’s record against European teams at the IHF Men’s World Championship is not stellar, having won only 7 of the 46 matches they played, with 3 draws and 36 losses. However, in the past six editions of the world handball flagship competition, Argentina have won at least one match against European opponents in five of them. The only blank came at France 2017, when they lost all three matches.

However, the odds will be stacked against them, with North Macedonia, the Netherlands and Norway bringing plenty of experience and talented players who are ready to deliver at the highest level. 

From that pack, the Netherlands are the most inexperienced team, making their comeback at the IHF Men’s World Championship for the first time since 1961 after being awarded a wild card for entering the race for the trophy.

While they have become a powerhouse in women’s handball, celebrating the win of the trophy at Japan 2019, the Dutch side are only an emerging team in men’s handball, slowly gaining ground after breaking through at the EHF EURO 2020.

They finished 17th in that tournament, but two years later, the Netherlands shocked the world with some excellent matches, eliminating Hungary in the preliminary round and finishing 10th at the EHF EURO 2022, with a generation led by two outstanding backs, Luc Steins and Kay Smits.

The former has been one of the top players in Europe in recent years, a two-time MVP of the French league playing for Paris Saint-Germain, while the latter was on pace to become the top goal scorer at the EHF EURO 2022. Still, his challenge was derailed due to a positive COVID-19 test, finishing in fourth place with 45 goals.

The Dutch side have never met North Macedonia in a competitive match. They won a friendly match against Argentina, 28:17 in 2016, but have had tough clashes against Norway in recent years.

Norway won all four competitive matches against the Netherlands – 35:30 and 31:26 in the EHF EURO 2010 Qualification Phase and 30:22 and 38:24 in the EHF EURO 2016 Qualification Phase – but also two friendly matches, the most recent coming in 2021 in the Golden League (40:29).

Norway, who have a new coach in Jonas Wille making his debut at a major tournament, have a mixed record against North Macedonia, with three wins, one draw and one loss in the past 13 years, but they won both matches at the IHF Men’s World Championship, 29:27 in 2009 and 34:24 and 2017, against their opponents. Sander Sagosen is back for Norway after a long lay-off due to an injury. 

At the same time, Kiril Lazarov will make his first appearance as coach for North Macedonia after he retired as a player, with his last tournament in that position being Egypt 2021.

North Macedonia have never met the Netherlands or Argentina in competitive matches. Still, they will need a win to progress to the next phase, after having done so in 2021, when they ended up on 23rd place, with a single win and five losses in six matches.