“Oh, Yara ten Holte. Oooooh, Yara ten Holte.”

9,500 spectators joined in singing the Netherlands’ goalkeeper name during the quarter-finals of the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, when the Dutch shot stopper provided some excellent saves to lift her side to a 28:23 win against Hungary.

Ten Holte had arguably her best performance of the competition in this match, stopping 15 shots for a 41% saving efficiency, her fourth match with saves in double digits in the competition, taking her overally saving efficiency to 40%.

“It’s crazy. I was hearing it yesterday on the court, and more and more people are doing it. It makes me feel really small when so many people are suddenly calling my name. But at the same time, I’m really happy for that. It’s really nice to have the crowd behind me,” says the Dutch goalkeeper.

Performing at this level is impossible for a team - even one like the Netherlands – if they do not have an in-form goalkeeper, who can deliver some crucial saves in important moments.

Ten Holte, who just turned 26 years old before the start of the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, has been just that goalkeeper, with a saving efficiency of 40% or over in five consecutive matches, starting from the one against Austria in the preliminary round.

No goalkeeper has registered more saves than the Dutch one – 73 – in the seven matches played so far at Germany/Netherlands 2025. Between the goalkeepers who have at least 25 saves, only Norway’s Katrine Lunde and Eli Marie Raasok have a better saving efficiency than ten Holte.

“The cooperation with our defence is working really well right now, and they are working their hardest. I’m happy that I can save some shots behind them, so we have a good connection. That makes it easier to save extra balls, and we’re staying together. We’re working hard in defence, and our strength is that we start from a solid defence to run our attacks,” says the shot stopper.

Ten Holte continues the legacy of all-time goalkeeping greats for the Netherlands, with Tess Lieder being named the All-Star goalkeeper at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship, when the Dutch side won the gold medal.

She made her debut at the IHF Women’s World Championship in 2021, and also featured in 2023, making this ten Holte’s third appearance in the world handball flagship competition.

 

But this is a special one, because the Netherlands have been playing all their seven matches in the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, with the “Oranje” colour being predominant in the seats.

A sea of orange shirts – the traditional colour of the Dutch side – has flocked to the arena in each match and created a fantastic atmosphere, in the sound of the high-BPM bops prefered by the Dutch at their parties.

“It’s a culmination of everything we worked for. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, and we know that and this is why I say I’m really enjoying it. It’s special to play for your home crowd on this big stage. There are 9.500 people supporting us each game in the arena, and they’re giving us the energy boost we need when things get tough. We’re really happy to be here. It’s just fantastic,” says the goalkeeper.

But now, for the Netherlands, a tougher challenge awaits. With seven wins in seven matches – their best start in history, even better than the ones in 2015, 2017 and 2019, when they win medals – they are due to face the big favourites in the second semi-final, Norway.

The Scandinavian powerhouse is also riding a seven-match winning streak and won six matches by at least 12 goals, with the seventh one, the quarter-final against Montenegro, seeing Norway take a nine-goal win, 32:23.

Therefore, ten Holte will be crucial in this battle, as Norway are the team which scored the largest number of goals at this edition of the World Championship – 247.

“it’s going to be a tough match, but we know that every semi-final is tough. We’ll make a good plan and do everything we can to play a good match,” concludes ten Holte.