On the opening day in Group F, Argentina will face the Netherlands, who are playing their first World Championship since 1961. The other match will be an all-European clash between Norway and North Macedonia.

• 18:00 CET Argentina vs Netherlands 

Argentina, the only non-European team in the group, qualified for the IHF Men's World Championship for the 14th straight time, starting from 1997. Throughout these years, their performance was not always consistent, but at Egypt 2021, "Los Gladiatores" achieved their best result, finishing 11th.

With the likes of Diego Simonet and Leonel Maciel still in the squad, the South American side hope for another successful campaign and their first opponents will be the Netherlands. The two teams have never faced off in competitive matches, but in a friendly encounter in 2016, the Dutch took a commanding 28:17 victory.

The Netherlands' only participation in the World Championship dates back to 1961, when they lost both matches they played to finish 11th. Now the team coached by the legendary Swede Staffan Olsson hopes to write history and secure their maiden win at this level.

Seen as an emerging nation in men's handball, the Dutch gained some experience at the two recent editions of the EHF EURO, and after the 17th place in 2020, finishing 10th in 2022 was remarkable progress. 
Now the Netherlands, who have been given a wild card by the IHF to participate in the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship, hope to create another surprise at a major international tournament – and their primary goal is to claim two points against Argentina. 

• 20:30 CET Norway vs North Macedonia 

The two European sides have faced off in five competitive matches in the past 13 years, and Norway have an advantage as they won three matches and lost one, with one more encounter ending in a draw. Notably, the Nordic side defeated their Balkan rivals in both matches at the World Championships, 29:27 in 2009 and 34:24 in 2014.

Now they will meet once again and Norway, who were runners-up in 2017 and 2019 before finishing sixth in 2021, are seen as favourites. Their star centre back Sander Sagosen is back after a serious injury, and with his help the Scandinavians put on an impressive performance at the Gjensidige Cup last week. In this friendly tournament, the Norwegians celebrated three clear wins against Portugal, Brazil and the USA, demonstrating their good form before the start of the World Championship.

In turn, North Macedonia had mixed results last week, losing against Croatia (34:40) and narrowly beating Israel (38:37) in friendly matches. Now they are heading into their sixth straight and eighth overall World Championship, with the ninth place at Qatar 2015 still being their best result.

Two years ago in Egypt, North Macedonia finished only 23rd and it was Kiril Lazarov's last tournament as a player. Now the 42-year-old legend of North Macedonian handball is head coach of the national team and looking forward to the World Championship.

"I hope we are on the right way. We will face Norway in the first match, and I believe that we'll play like them in a few years, with a fast and recognisable style," Lazarov said.

Photo: EHF/Kolektiff images