The Netherlands, Spain and Germany have already sealed their tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with two wins in their first two matches in their respective Olympic Qualification Tournaments, with three more tickets ready to be secured on Sunday.

Two of them are still available in Debrecen, where Hungary and Sweden are favourites, while the last is due to be clinched in a do-or-die clash between Slovenia and Montenegro in Neu-Ulm.

Olympic Qualification Tournament #1

16:45 CEST Great Britain vs Sweden

Despite conceding a 25:28 loss against Hungary in the second matchday of the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1 in Debrecen, Sweden are in an excellent position to clinch a place for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, provided they secure a win against Great Britain.

With Hungary and Japan facing off later on Sunday evening in the Fonix Arena, Sweden can also clinch the first place, provided Hungary lose against Japan and they win against Great Britain, but will seal their Paris 2024 ticket with a win here, courtesy of their 35:28 win against the Asian side.

“Our seven-goal victory against Japan will go a long way,” said Sweden’s coach, Tomas Axner, after the loss against Hungary, as the Scandinavian side is 60 minutes away of their fifth consecutive Olympic Games berth.

One of the most consistent teams in the last decade in women’s handball, Sweden will be overwhelming favourites against Great Britain, the only team in the three Olympic Qualification Tournaments to have conceded at least 40 goals in each of their first two matches.

First, the team that received a wild card and replaced Cameroon in this Olympic Qualification Tournament, were outplayed by Hungary, losing 11:49, with the second match bringing another big loss, 16:43, against Japan.

Therefore, Sweden will be the big favourites coming into this match, as they try to shake off the loss against Hungary, with Saturday’s rest day helping the Scandinavian side clear their heads.

Left back Jenny Carlson scored 14 goals in the first two matches, being one of the top scorers of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, having scored 13 goals less than the entire British team, who have the largest number of turnovers after two matches, 54, an average of 27 balls lost per match in Debrecen.

19:15 CEST Hungary vs Japan

With two wins in their first two matches, Hungary are close to the coveted Paris 2024 ticket, but the hosts in Debrecen will be looking to make it three out of three and win the competition, with a draw against the Asian side being enough to complete their objective.

After a clear 49:11 win against Great Britain in their opener, Hungary delivered one of their best matches in the past years against Sweden, clinching a 28:25 win, after starting strong and never relinquishing the lead throughout the 60 minutes, with a stunning performance from hummel Player of the Match, Csenge Kucsora, who scored eight goals.

“We are celebrating the win against Sweden, but on Saturday and Sunday we are preparing against Japan, we want to win this match as well, since we are not yet qualified for the Olympic Games,” said Hungary’s coach, Vladimir Golovin.

Indeed, Hungary can still miss out on the qualification, with a loss against Japan and a Sweden win against Great Britain creating a three-way tie, with goal difference rules applying between the three sides, as every one of them would have the same number of wins against each other – one.

In that case, Hungary will need to lose by four goals or less if they are to proceed, while any Japan win by five goals or more would see the Asian side secure back-to-back appearances at the Olympic Games.

But this will not be a walk in the park, especially as Japan have been pretty consistent against European sides. Since 2019, when Japan took their clearest-ever win against an European side, 37:20 against Romania, the Asian team has always challenged European sides, with a win against Croatia and Austria in 2021, with close losses against Spain (26:28) in 2021, Germany (30:31), Poland (30:32) and Romania (28:32) in 2023.

Yet the biggest win came against Denmark, when Japan delivered an absolutely fantastic performance at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, handing the hosts in Herning one of the biggest losses in history, 26:27, helping Japan to finish 17th, as they doubled down with a win against Serbia.

On the other hand, the Asian side have conceded a 28:35 loss against Sweden, staying close for only 20 minutes against the Scandinavian side, but the fast-paced nature of their attack will be surely giving Hungary some headaches, in a winner-takes-all scenario for the last match in Debrecen.

Olympic Qualification Tournament #2 

15:30 CEST Czechia vs Argentina

Out of these two winless teams so far it is the South Americans who have impressed the most, causing problems for the Netherlands in their opener and providing even more issues for host nation Spain in their second match.

Against Spain, Argentina took the host nation all the way to the final few minutes, leading for nearly all of the first half and threatening to take a late win, or at least a draw, before conceding two quick goals in the final moments to lose 26:23.

Czechia have never been in contention in either of their two matches in Torrevieja so far, losing 31:21 to Spain and 32:18 to the Netherlands, in direct contrast to Argentina who had led 5:0 against the Netherlands, and for most of the first half, before succumbing to the European side 34:22.

“I'm so sad because we could win this, but I'm really, really proud of my team,” said Argentina captain Elke Karsten to ihf.info after the Spain loss. 

“We are empty for sure. We couldn't prepare because we arrived here just one day before the tournament, but this performance shows to us we can play handball,” she added. “We fight a lot; everybody in their clubs trains hard and when we come here, we want to be the best and we always want to win because it's in our blood.”

Karsten sits third in the Olympic Qualification Tournament goalscoring charts, on 14 goals, four behind Germany’s Julia Maidhof and will be key for Argentina, along with the impressive Marisol Carratu in goal and exciting right back Malena Cavo.

Less than half a year ago the two teams met in the preliminary group of the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship with Czechia beating Argentina 31:22 on their way to a history-equalling eighth-place ranking.

However, going on the form shown by these two teams so far in southern Spain, it is Argentina who look the strongest going into the clash, as they face a Czechia side looking for more minutes at the top level, according to coach, Bent Dahl.

“I never go onto any court to lose games, but I understand that some of our opponents have a little bit of a higher level than us,” he explained to ihf.info after the Netherlands loss. “I and my team are very disappointed because we didn't manage to put the last effort in the two first games.

“[The Argentina match] is important because we have some young players who need to have these games, more and more and the more games we can have at this level, the better we can learn. This makes it important for Czech handball from a long-term perspective.”

18:00 CEST Spain vs Netherlands

“I think it’s time for medals again,” said Netherlands’ Angela Malestein after her side saw off Czechia on Friday to seal their Paris 2024 Olympic Games place.

“We have played inside the top five, top six in the last years, but the young players are not young anymore. We take our own responsibility and do our own job to help each other,” she added. 

“This is where it always starts: with yourself – ‘what can I do better?’. Our team looks to themselves. We all work our asses off. I want to show my team always that I'm first to ‘go to war’. I think it will be time for a medal again.”

This talk will no doubt impress coach Per Johansson, who confirmed to ihf.info that the influential Estavana Polman – who is in Torrevieja but who has not played yet – was ready to come in against Czechia if the game was tight, but in the end was not needed and is unlikely to feature against Spain as she continues her comeback.

In the end, the Dutch 32:18 win over Czechia was impressive as Johansson’s side sped to a 7:0 lead early on but Spain will be a completely different proposition with neither team needing to play at 100%.

Torrevieja represents the third time that Spain have hosted and qualified through from an Olympic Qualification Tournament, with the Netherlands playing a small part of their greatest success so far – Olympic bronze at London 2012.

Their journey to the podium started at the Palacio Multius de Guadalajara (Aquas Vivas) in Guadalajara at the qualification tournament, where the host nation beat the Dutch 28:24, before qualifying through on goal difference with Croatia, as the Netherlands crashed out.

More recently, Spain lost to the Netherlands (21:29) at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, to eventually finish 13th, their second worst ranking in history, after their 15th spot in their 1993 debut.

Left back Alexandrina Cabral Barbosa, with well over 700 goals in more than 160 appearances, will now realise her dream of being able to retire at an Olympic Games and this game is now the first leg of her farewell tour on home soil.

“My dream was to come to Paris and finish my career there, and it's come true,” she told ihf.info after the tight Argentina win on Friday which saw her side book their Paris ticket.

Olympic Qualification Tournament #3

13:30 CEST Paraguay vs Germany

Wins against Slovenia and Montenegro helped Germany already seal the first place in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #3, which they host in Neu-Ulm, as irrespective of the results of the last day, they hold the tie-breaker against both sides which can reach the four-points mark.

Nevertheless, Germany are heavily favoured against Paraguay, who have never secured a win against an European side and had mixed results in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #3. After a close loss, 25:30 against Montenegro, the South American team was thoroughly outplayed by Slovenia, who jumped to a 32:14 win.

The gap is wide enough for Germany to rest some of their starters after a busy April, which saw them play five matches already in 13 days, especially as the only head-to-head meeting, played at the 2007 IHF Women’s World Championship, when Germany finished third, ended in a 45:12 win.

“It is an incredible feeling to be here and win the first two matches. I am just happy,” said Germany’s coach, Markus Gaugisch, after his team secured the 28:24 win against Montenegro, which saw them seal the Olympic ticket a few hours later.

Germany have had outstanding matches from right back Julia Maidhof, the top scorer of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, with 18 goals, and goalkeeper Katharina Filter, who was named the hummel Player of the Match twice, having saved 26 shots for a superb 40% saving efficiency.

On the other hand, Paraguay are sure of finishing on the last place in their maiden appearance in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, having lost against both Montenegro and Slovenia, and will try to use this match as a learning experience, for future competitions.

16:00 CEST Montenegro vs Slovenia

A whole Olympic cycle relies on 60 minutes for Montenegro and Slovenia, as both sides are now in a do-or-die situation. Montenegro, who finished seventh at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship and took the bronze medal at the EHF EURO 2022, have only one option – win the match, while Slovenia can also afford a draw.

The two sides are tied on two points, but Slovenia have the better overall goal difference, +12, as opposed to Montenegro’s +1, after securing a clear 32:14 win against Paraguay, with Bojana Popovic’s side only managing a 30:25 win.

As both sides lost against Germany, who secured the first place after two matchdays, there is only one Olympic ticket available, with the two sides facing off eight times in international official competitions, with Montenegro winning seven times, as opposed to Slovenia’s one win.

However, that win came at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, where Slovenia thoroughly dominated their counterparts, 28:18, the first major international competition where Dragan Adzic has led Slovenia.

This might be an advantage for Slovenia, as Adzic knows the Montenegrin players and their mentality fully well, having served as Montenegro women’s national team coach between 2010 and 2017, when Montenegro had their golden era, winning a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games and the title at the EHF EURO 2012.

"I am happy that we finished the match against Paraguay in such a way, won a big margin and had all the reins of the game in our hands throughout. On Sunday we will have to keep our heads on things. We are all very motivated, we know what our goal is," says Slovenia’s Ana Abina.

On the other hand, Montenegro are coming after a disappointing display against Germany, where the final score, 24:28, does not tell the whole story. In fact, Germany led by as many as 10 goals in the 42nd minute, 20:10, and Montenegro will need a totally different display if they are to secure their fourth consecutive Olympic Games berth.

“Even if we won or drew against Germany, we knew that in the last round we had to beat Slovenia, that game must be won in order to go to the Olympic Games.  I can see that the players feel safe and powerful, we'll try to play against Slovenia as well that way,” said Bojana Popovic.