Sweden take the court in Gothenburg on Monday night for their last home match of the co-hosted 26th IHF Women’s World Championship. With their quarter-final ticket already booked, following a perfect record of wins through the preliminary round and the first two games of the main round, Sweden’s sole focus is on securing top of Group I — and enjoying the atmosphere in Scandinavium. 

“It’s amazing,” said stalwart wing Nathalie Hagman following the side’s victory over Hungary on Saturday night, which saw a new attendance record for a women’s national team match played in Sweden. “Today it was over 10,000 people in the hall and I think in women’s handball we are not so used to this atmosphere and also when it’s 10,000 people who are almost all cheering for just us, Sweden, so it was very cool today.” 

The new record, following Saturday night, is 10,561. But the attendance record was broken twice during this World Championship before the game against Hungary, with 8,538 attending the match against Croatia in the main round and 8,407 at the opener versus PR of China. 

The previous national team record was set when Sweden hosted the Women’s EHF EURO 2016, with 7,900 spectators at the opening match against Spain on that occasion. Although the attendance at the matches in Gothenburg is the record for a Sweden game, it is not the record for a women’s match overall in the Scandinavian country, with more than 11,000 at the title-deciding game of the EHF EURO 2016 when Norway defeated the Netherlands. 

With the final whistle in Gothenburg on Monday night, Sweden will farewell their hosting duties and continue on to the quarter-finals in Herning. Their final position in the group — first or second — will decide which team they meet from main round Group III: Germany or co-hosts Denmark. Germany and Denmark will clash in the last game of their group to determine their final positions on the table on Monday night as well. 

It is the second senior World Championship Sweden have co-hosted in 2023, following the men’s event in January, when they shared organising with Poland. Sweden were the hosts of the finals for the Men’s World Championship, and their side went all the way to the semi-finals, ultimately ranking fourth. That final weekend also saw a record for attendance at a handball game in Sweden, with over 23,000 people watching Denmark beat France in the trophy game to secure a historic three-peat world title. 

Sweden have been busy with hosting major championships in recent years and will continue to be, as they organised the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 together with Austria and Norway along with the women’s edition in 2016. The next events following the Women’s World Championship will be the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 and then the Women’s EHF EURO 2028, both of which will be co-hosted with their Scandinavian neighbours Denmark and Norway again. As the hosting of events helps increase interest in handball in Sweden, more attendance records may be on the horizon — and the success of the teams also helps. 

    
The great news for Sweden is that they are in a strong era with both national teams. The men’s team are the current European champions, having returned to the top of the continent in 2022 after dominating the EHF EURO in its early years with four of the first five trophies in the event. They also took the silver medal at the EHF EURO 2018. On the global stage, Sweden made it back to the final in 2021 after a lengthy wait — they had last played the trophy game in 2001, following four titles prior to that and two other final appearances. At Tokyo 2020, the Sweden men’s team were knocked out by Spain in the quarter-finals and placed fifth. 

The women’s team reached the Olympic semi-finals for the first time ever at the Tokyo 2020 Games and placed fifth at the latest editions of both the World Championship and the EHF EURO. At the 2017 Women’s World Championship, Sweden broke into the top four for the first time ever. The best results have been EHF EURO medals — silver in 2010 and bronze in 2014. 

Several players in the current line-up were part of the medal in 2014, including Hagman, as well as current captain Jamina Roberts and goalkeeper Johanna Bundsen. All three have been playing an important role for Sweden at this World Championship and have been generally in top form over recent years, with Hagman taking the top scorer crown at the last World Championship while Roberts was Swedish Handballer of the Year in 2022 and 2023 and won the Champions League title earlier in 2023. Hagman’s final tally of 71 goals at Spain 2021 was helped considerably by two huge outings of 19 goals — one against Puerto Rico and a second versus Kazakhstan.  

Back to DEN/NOR/SWE 2023, Bundsen was the player of the match in the crucial main round game against Hungary, where Sweden booked the quarter-final place, with 15 saves at a rate of 41% and a 100% record on penalty shots — three from three. 

Hagman is pleased with the performance and results so far but focused on what is to come: “I’m very happy. We are very satisfied. We have one game left, against Montenegro, and we also, of course, want to have a victory there to have a good good chance in the quarter-final. But of course, I’m really happy that we reached their quarter-final with one game left.”