Reigning Olympic champions France face co-hosts and European championship title-holders Norway in Trondheim as the main round concludes in the Norwegian city with a monster clash.

But that is not where the drama will be as the middle game of the three – Slovenia vs Austria – could well be an Olympic Qualification Tournament decider, depending on the overall placements (and maths) of the main round.

Throwing off the day is the Africa vs Asia champions clash with Angola taking on Republic of Korea.

In Group IV in Frederikshavn, four teams are still in with a chance, as everything will be decided after the matches pitting together Czechia and Brazil and later Spain and the Netherlands.

Main Round - Group II
15:30 CET Angola vs Republic of Korea

Both sides will play their last match of the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship and with both already-qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games next summer in France, they will use their 60 minutes on court at the Trondheim Spektrum to further fine tune.

Korea’s Ryu Eun Hee currently sits in eighth place in the championship goalscorers list with 30 strikes and her country will continue to look to her for their impetus on court, alongside the impressive Bitna Woo.

The two teams last met at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, drawing 31:31 and with the Asian side sitting on zero points so far in this main group, they could be the more motivated to end their time in Europe with a win.

18:00 CET Slovenia vs Austria

With a potential top 12 spot and, possibly, a shot at squeezing into the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, all the emotion and energy in Trondheim is likely to be in this game.

Last time out, Austria suffered a “bitter” (according to their federation website) defeat, to Angola, which waylaid any hopes the team coached by Herbert Müller could be in the dominant position going into this clash.

As it stands they need hope for a Korea victory over Angola in the early game then do the business themselves.

“The body is very tired, but there is one last game in which we want to give it our all again,” said Austria’s Patricia Kovacs to oehb.at “Third place in the group would be really, really cool.”

That would be a perfect result for the Austrians, who were handed a wildcard for the championship by the IHF after failing to qualify initially.

However, Müller knows the big threat facing him with Slovenia – their world-class backcourt player Ana Gros: the two worked together at German club Thuringer HC and were German champions and cup winners in 2013.

“You have to pay particular attention to Ana Gros and Barbara Lazovic,” said Müller about the Slovenian threats, to oehb.at. “They can adapt very well to the defence and recognise gaps in the opposing defence.”

These two neighbouring countries have met 21 times on court, the most recent clash in March 2019 ending with a 23:23 friendly result.

20:30 CET France vs Norway

These two teams know each other well – too well maybe. 

They have met 100 times previously to this clash, with Norway taking 75 wins and a cursory look through their recent encounters shows World and European championship finals and semi-finals, with this clash forming the final of the 1999, 2011, 2017 and 2021 IHF Women’s World Championships.

With both teams already qualified through to the quarter-finals in 2023, and also qualified through to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, on paper, there is little to play for.

However, there many reasons why this game matters.

The most important one, certainly for both coaches and the players involved, is to test each other against a team which has been one of the two most impressive in the Norwegian part of the championship.

France have had the harder championship so far, pushed in their opener against Angola (winning 30:29), while Norway have not had any teams come anywhere near as close. 

Coach Olivier Krumbholz has said throughout this event that his French side they still have to improve and has had the luxury of resting, rotating and trialling players in his five games so far. Thorir Hergeirsson has also done that on the Norwegian side.

Whomever lines up on Sunday will electrify the Trondheim Spektrum and, once again, provide a handball spectacle worth of having a medal to play for. 

Neutrals are in for a treat.

Main Round - Group IV
12:00 CET Argentina vs Ukraine

With only one win under their belt at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, both sides are hoping to end the competition on a high in their last match. Argentina are coming after two straight losses against Brazil and Spain and the 2022 South and Central American Women's Handball Championship runners-up will try to redeem themselves and in the last match of the competition beat Ukraine and secure a better placement than the 21st spot at Spain 2021.

Ukraine reached their main goal of being in the Main Round after a 14-year hiatus from the IHF Women’s World Championship and have the same aim as Argentina, even though they will most likely have their worst placement since finishing 18th in 2001.

Interestingly, both sides have the same number of goals scored and conceded, with 121 successful shots and 161 received. It would be a good ground for Argentina who never managed to beat Ukraine so far, conceding two losses

“For us, this will be an important game. We understand that the opponent is tough to defeat but we want that. Argentina showed in a game against Spain they can keep up. I want discipline from my team. This is the last game and we both have little energy left. Therefore, character and individual skill will come first. We will strive for victory,” said Ukrainian head coach Vitaliy Andronov.

14:15 CET Czechia- Brazil

A 30:22 win against Spain saw Czechia edge closer to their second quarter-finals in history in the competition and they will need a win against Brazil to all but seal it, with even a four-goal loss being able to send them to the next phase, provided the Netherlands win against Spain.

Brazil also have a slight chance of progressing further despite their defeat against the Netherlands - to beat Czechia by six goals or more and hope the Netherlands end victorious against Spain. With many more combinations on the table between the four sides in the Main Round Group IV one thing is sure - they will all aim to get a strong win.

Bent Dahl transformed Czechia and the team made a new step forward at Denmark/Sweden/Norway 2023. In the game against Spain, Czechia got a new hero, goalkeeper Petra Kudláčková who was an absolute nightmare for Spanish players and currently she is the top goalkeeper in the competition with 49 saves at 37 per cent save efficiency after five matches.

Can she repeat it against Bruna De Paula and Adriana Cardoso De Castro, who are the main Brazilian forces? De Paula will be a real challenge for the defensive players,  as she is leading the list with 19 assists. Their first encounter ever will be a real treat for the fans in Arena Nord in Frederikshavn.

16:30 CET Netherlands vs Spain

In their last game in Frederikshavn, before the two qualified teams travel to Trondheim for the quarter-finals, the Netherlands and Spain will face off again, in a rematch of the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship, when the Dutch players won their first-ever title.

The Netherlands have a clearer path of making it into the quarter-finals after their flawless performance at the 26th IHF Women's World Championship. A win or a draw sends them to the quarter-final and only a miracle Spanish performance could see them out of the race - them losing by 19 or more with a Czechia's win against Brazil.

Spain saw their path towards quarter-finals become even more difficult, after their eight-goal defeat against Czechia. Up until that game, Ambros Martin's team was flawless and seemed to be on the right path for their third quarter-finals ticket in a row. Now, their placement among the top eight teams depends not only on their result but also on the result of the game between Czechia and Brazil.

The second-best attack of the competition, with 37.8 goals scored per game on average will clash with a similarly successful defensive team as Spain conceded only 23 goals per game on average, just 0.2 more than their opponents.

“We are all very aware of what we are at risk for tomorrow. We know that we have no more opportunities. The Netherlands are a very good rival and they are having a perfect World Championship so far. But we believe we can do it,” said ahead of the do-or-die clash Spanish right wing Paula Arcos.

Since 2004, Spain and the Netherlands have played 13 matches against each other and the three last encounters were nail-biting games - at Women's EHF EURO 2022, it was a tie (29:29), in the final at 2019 IHF Women's World Championship the Netherlands won 30:29 just like at the EHF EURO 2018 (28:27).