Just over 50 years since the first recorded match for their women’s team, the northern European nation will appear on the global stage for their debut at a senior IHF World Championship.

Back at home in November 1974, the Faroese women made history with that first-ever game, against Iceland, a full six years before the Handball Federation of the Faroe Islands was formed after becoming independent of the ‘Ítróttasamband Føroya’ (Sports Federation of the Faroe Islands).

Progress took time over the following decades with rapid evolution occurring in the 2010s. Firstly, the younger age categories qualified in various continental and global competitions – the men’s junior team becoming the first global representatives at the 2017 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Algeria – and last year, at the senior level, a double, historic 2024 European Championship qualification was secured, the success recorded for posterity via the Faroe Islands postal service.

And the following year, it was the men’s junior team who secured the nation’s first IHF medal (outside of the IHF Emerging Nations event) when they won bronze at the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Poland earlier this year.

This ‘overnight success’ of nearly all of their top-level tournament qualifications across all age groups coming in the 2020s  has not been quick thought, it is the result of hours and hours of human investment across the previous decades creating that blueprint for success, and the result is the Faroe Islands global presence we are now seeing in 2025

So, could 2025 end with even more success?

“We are thrilled to be in a senior world championship for the first time,” says Ári Rouch, part of the Handball Federation of the Faroe Islands and a man with many roles. “Our goal is to make it to the main round in Dortmund, but we will take it one match at a time.”

Before Dortmund lies Trier, for the preliminary group stage of Germany/Netherlands 2025, where the Faroes will face Montenegro, Spain and Paraguay. 

On paper, Paraguay will be identified as the team to beat to secure a place as one of three from their group, but Montenegro particularly will be aware of the strengths they will be facing, with the two teams meeting just a few weeks before world championship action.

In October, in Torshavn, the Faroe Islands capital, Montenegro took a 32:26 victory in the first-ever clash between the two sides, but the game was all-square at the break (14:14) after the home side had led 4:1 early on and caused problems with their 7v6 attack. Once again led by Jana Mittún, the Faroes battled well but were undone by a more experienced side.

The loss had come off the back of an impressive – and historic – victory against their long-term rivals and neighbours Iceland a few days earlier (24:22), their first in numerous attempts stretching back across six decades.

Key players Jana Mittún and Pernille Brandenborg combined for 13 goals in that clash, with the duo key to success for coach Claus Leth Mogensen’s side in Germany. The pair represent the future development of the sport in the country, with both playing abroad in top European leagues currently, Brandenborg for Storhamar in Norway and Mittun for Viborg HK in Denmark, with a number of players playing in those countries as well as Iceland.

After a number of post European Championship retirements, Brandenborg is now the most experience player in the squad (48 appearances), followed by line player Bjarta Johansen, who has represented the national team since 2012 and has racked up 44 senior national team appearances.

“If someone had told me 10 years ago that we will go to the world championship I think I would have thought it was a bad joke, that it will never happen,” said Johansen, who plays her club handball for Kyndil in the Faroes, to ihf.info.

“Back then, just qualifying through to the qualifiers was huge, and I still remember those games, because it was so huge. Now, having played in one European championship, and a world championship I would never have had imagined it.”

Johansen was part of the Faroes squad who secured participation for Germany/Netherlands 2025 back in April thanks to their 65:56 aggregate victory over Lithuania in the European qualification phase.

But it was not all plain sailing, despite winning the first leg at home by a double-digit score (36:26), as they lost the second away 30:29.

“It was the first time we played in the new handball hall and there were like 4,000 spectators there only cheering for us,” explained the 32-year-old.

“That game really lifted us up – everything worked and everyone you knew in the Faroes weas there. It was an amazing game as many of the players were shining but as good as that game was the second one was as terrible. Mentally we weren't there, but luckily, we had such a good game at home that it didn't matter.”

Head coach Mogensen and his assistant, Simon Olsen, started in their current roles back in 2023 and in October signed extensions until January 2028, not only meaning a continuity in the team, but allowing the ability to plan well into the future for possible 2026 European Championship and 2027 World Championship appearances.

The Faroes have never met Paraguay or Spain before, and ahead of the world championship, a friendly match against Iceland (22nd November) is planned as part of their home training camp, before the squad – and a few hundred of their supporters – will embark on those first, historic steps on the global stage.

Key players: Bjarta Johansen (line player), Annika Peterson (goalkeeper), Pernille Brandenborg (line player), Jana Mittun (centre back)

Coach: Claus Leth Mogensen

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: European Qualifiers – Phase 2: 65:56 on aggregate against Lithuania

History: Debut

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group D (Montenegro, Spain, Faroe Islands, Paraguay)

Credit photo: Faroe Islands Handball Federation / Andrei Antal