The second group hosted by the Maaspoort in 's-Hertogenbosch at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship will be Group F, where once again, teams from three continents will collide in order to secure their tickets for the main round of the competition.

Only three of the four teams will head to the next phase, with two European sides, France and Poland, one African side, Tunisia, and Asian representative the People’s Republic of China lining up at the start of the group.

One team is the overwhelming favourite of the group and it’s the title holders, France, which have won 17 of the last 18 matches at the IHF Women’s World Championship, and conceded only four losses in the last 34 matches in the competition, playing the final in three of the last four editions.

France and Norway have undoubtedly been the top dogs in the past 10 years in women’s handball, winning the last five world titles, as well as the last two Olympic titles, but “Les Bleues” are in the middle of a transition period, after coach Olivier Krumbholz has been replaced by his former assistant, Sebastian Gardillou, after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The title holders also hold a head-to-head advantage against Tunisia and the People’s Republic of China, but the results have been more mixed against Poland, a team which has known quite a bit about how to beat France.

Against China, France have won two of the three matches, including their only meeting at the IHF Women’s World Championship, 29:18, in the preliminary round in 2001. However, the two sides have split their wins at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, when China took a 21:18 win against France in the preliminary round, only for the European team to bounce back in the Placement Match 5/6, 31:23.

France have also won their two official matches against Tunisia, first with a 25:17 performance in the preliminary round at the 2011 IHF Women’s World Championship, as well as a 33:15 win at the Rio 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Nevertheless, France will test some unknown waters, as they will not be able to rely on three important players – backs Estelle Nze Minko and Laura Flippes and left wing Chloe Valentini – with the first two being pregnant and the latter giving birth in September.

Poland have been quite a tricky opponent for France, as they won the first two mutual matches at the IHF Women’s World Championship, 19:17 at the 1986 edition, in the preliminary round, and 30:20 in the Round of 16 at Germany 1997.

Two years later, in 1999, France avenged those losses, with a 28:21 win in the Round of 16, but in 2013, Poland took again a crucial win, a historic one, 22:21, in the quarter-finals of Serbia 2013, denying France their challenge for a medal. In the last nine years, the two European sides have met three times, with France always taking a big win.

Two of those wins were double-digits ones, 26:16 in the main round of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship and, the most recent, coming in the preliminary round of the EHF EURO 2024, when France took a clear 35:22 win, the biggest in history against Poland. In 2016, at the EHF EURO, France also beat Poland, 31:22.

However, Poland hold an immaculate balance against their other two opponents in the group and will look to start the main round with at least two points, provided they qualify, as they have a 100% winning record against the People’s Republic of China and Tunisia.

After finishing fourth in 2013 and 2015, Poland have never made it further than the 15th place at Spain 2021, and will hope to kickstart their campaign against Tunisia, which they beat, 29:23, in the preliminary round at France 2007, and China, a team which they won all the three match played against.

Their maiden encounter was a 31:17 win for Poland at the 1990 IHF Women’s World Championship, followed up by a 27:20 win at France 2007 and a 29:24 win at Denmark 2015, with all matches taking place in the preliminary round.

China, which have made 19 consecutive appearances in the competition, with their best finish being the eighth place in 1990 and, more recently, the 12th place in 2009, have played against Tunisia only three times, with Tunisia emerging as winners each time.

For the 11th time in the competition, Tunisia have not made the main round so far, but can secure their berth if they follow their head-to-head record against China, which sees three wins – 30:27 at France 2007, 28:23 at Serbia 2013 and 32:31 at Germany 2017.