When Germany last qualified for the final of the IHF Women’s World Championship, in 1993, winning the title in extra-time against Denmark, only one of the current players of the Germany women’s senior national team, captain Antje Döll, was born.

Emily Vogel’s mother, Andrea Bölk, was part of that team, but to just comprehend the sheer achievement made by Germany at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, one just needs to look on their past results.

They secured two bronze medals since that title, in 1997 and 2007 and never finished higher than the sixth place, at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023. However, since missing out on a quarter-final place in 2017, when they hosted the competition, they constantly improved, with an eighth place finish at Japan 2019, a seventh place at Spain 2021 and the sixth place two years ago.

And now, they ensured their fifth medal at the IHF Women’s World Championship in history, with a 29:23 commanding win over France in the semi-final, while being the underdogs.

 

“I like being the underdog. Now it’s a really big surprise. We fought for 60 minutes and believed for 60 minutes that we would win today. I think for the France team it was a difficult situation, maybe they are the better team, but in this sport, the better team is the one with a bigger team spirit and a better mindset,” said Germany’s captain, Antje Döll.

And with a great captain, who shined on the court, earning the hummel Player of the Match award. Döll is Germany’s top scorer, with 48 goals in the competition, and had nine goals in the semi-final against France, scoring at free will, with only one shot missed.

It was maybe the last chance for her to win a medal with the Germany national team, and she delivered arguably the best performance in a major international competition, converting a whopping 87% of her shots so far at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship.

“I think I worked really hard to get here. Everybody knows me. There were many years with the national team. We ended in the quarter-final, but now we’re making the right steps. I think we have a great team spirit, a spirit we didn’t have before at this high level. Yeah, and I think we would die for each other,” adds the left wing.

Döll started her handball career as a line player and transitioned to the left wing. While being in the Germany junior women’s team which secured the gold medal at the 2008 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, she was really a late bloomer, making her debut in the senior team only in 2017, when she was 29 years old.

But since that moment, the player who also works as a detective superintendent in the department of residential burglary at the Police in Ludwigsburg, became a mainstay in the Germany national team, with better and better performances.

In eight years, the left wing has scored 331 goals in 116 matches for Germany, but this World Championship will likely come down as the best overall performance in a major international competition for Döll, who also made her debut at the Olympic Games last year, at Paris 2024.

“We probably won't even need the warm-up on Sunday because we'd love to get straight into the final.,” adds Döll.

The final against Norway will certainly be Germany’s toughest test so far. The co-hosts have won eight matches in a row for the first time to start an edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship . 

But Norway have won all the matches so far by at least nine goals, including a 10-goal win against the Netherlands in the semi-final, 35:25.

“I think everything is possible now,” says Germany’s captain, underlining the possibility for yet another shock produced by the co-hosts.

But this edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship is more than handball or more than a simple competition for the Germany team. It is the chance to make women’s handball more popular in a handball-mad country, which is filling the stands for any match of the men’s national team or in the Bundesliga.

 

Via the “Hands Up For More” campaign, Germany are trying to draw attention on women’s handball. But no campaign can inspire more than what these players did on the court – leaving all their energy to reach an improbable final.

“I’m really proud. We have this campaign, “Hands Up For More,” and of course, we knew we needed a little bit of success to fill this campaign with heart, life, and love. Now we did it, and I’m really happy and proud,” concludes Döll.