The last group of the preliminary round to be analysed in our series is Group H, which will be hosted by Trier.

Plenty of familiar faces will face off in the battle for the three main round spots available, with two familiar foes, Norway and the Republic of Korea, facing off once again in the world handball flagship competition. Angola and Kazakhstan complete a group which might look more tangled than on paper.

Norway and the Republic of Korea have a long withstanding history, especially at the Olympic Games, where the two sides have fought plenty of times, including for medals. Back at Barcelona 1992, the Republic of Korea sealed the gold medal with a 28:21 win. Norway avenged that loss in the bronze medal match at Sydney 2000, 22:21, and in the semi-finals at Beijing 2008, 29:28.

But over the last years, Norway secured clearer and clearer wins, having a positive balance against their Asian counterparts, with 12 wins in 19 matches, as the Republic of Korea secured six wins. At Japan 2019, in the main round, Norway took a clear 36:25 win, one of the clearest in history between the two sides, following up with another double-digits win, 33:23, at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023.

The Scandinavian side then went on to secure a 26:20 win in the preliminary round of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, on their way to the trophy, signalling their strength and dominance against their Asian counterparts.

Norway are still one of the favourites to win the title, sealing the gold medal four times, in 1999, 2011, 2015 and 2021, meaning that three of the last six editions were won by the current Olympic champions, which have also secured the silver medal in 2017 and 2023.

Nevertheless, Norway will bring several new faces in the squad, after key players like Camilla Herrem and Stine Bredal Oftedal have said their goodbyes from the national team, while line player Kari Brattset Dale, goalkeeper Silje Solberg- Østhassel and left wing Sanna Solberg-Isaksen are pregnant.

But the Scandinavian side will be favoured by a mile to progress unscathed with the maximum number of points to the main round, as their head-to-head record against Angola and Kazakhstan is also 100%.

They have faced the African champions 10 times, winning every match, four at the Olympic Games and six at the World Championship. In the latter competition, Norway beat Angola in 2005 (36:30), in 2007 (32:26), in 2011 (26:20), in 2013 (26:21), in 2019 (30:24) and most recently in the main round at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, 37:19, their largest-ever win against Angola.

Against Kazakhstan, Norway have played three matches and all of them have been double-digits wins, with the gap growing from 16 goals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, 35:19, to 21 goals at Denmark 2015, 40:19, and 28 goals at Spain 2021, 46:18.

Angola still have plenty of firepower, with several experienced players in the squad, and made the main round for the first time in eight years in the previous edition of the world handball flagship competition.

However, Carlos Viver’s side does not have a successful head-to-head record against their Asian counterparts, with a 24:24 draw against Kazakhstan at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and only two wins in eight matches against the Republic of Korea.

But the last two matches played between Korea and Angola at the World Championship were Angola wins, 30:29 in the Round of 16 at Brazil 2011, when the African side progressed for the second time in history to the quarter-finals, and a 33:31 win in the main round two years ago.

The two sides also met at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when Angola snatched a draw, 31:31, against Korea.

Therefore, the battle for the last two qualifying spots in the main round looks set to be a three-way affair between Kazakhstan, Angola and the Republic of Korea, with the two Asian sides knowing each other very well.

Both meetings at the World Championship saw Korea get easy wins, 39:21 in 2009 and 31:19 in 2011, with 16 out of the 18 mutual matches ending with a win for Korea. The only two Kazakhstan wins came in the AHF Asian Women’s Championship finals in 2002 and 2010, when the latter side won the title.

The last four mutual meetings were secured by Korea in double-digits, with the two sides meeting at the AHF Asian Women’s Championship in 2024, when Korea took a 30:20 win. The average margin of a win in these four matches was a whopping 18.25 goals per match.