Four years ago, at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, Austria have returned to the biggest of stages, after a 12-year wait. However, the European side subsequently finished 16th at Spain 2021 and 19th at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, making it to the main round, but failing to secure a top-10 finish.

Both times, the team was coached by Herbert Müller, but the long withstanding German coach left the Austrian team after two decades on the bench in 2024, being replaced by Monique Tijsterman.

Tijsterman has already led Austria in a major international competition, at the EHF EURO 2024, where the co-hosts finished on the 15th place, failing to make it to the main round. But this time around, Tijsterman had more time to leave her fingerprints on the team’s performance and a young core of players eager to learn.

Take, for example, the roster called up by Tijsterman in October for the doubleheader against Israel and Greece in the EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers. There were only two players born before 2000, with an average age of 23.6 years old for the Austria roster.

None of the players had over 100 caps and only three had more than 100 goals scored for the Austria national team, which means that a huge reshuffle of the team has been planned, with some key players delivering excellent performances for their club sides in the previous season.

Take, for example, left back Johanna Reichert, who has been the top goal scorer of the EHF European League Women in the previous season for Thüringer HC and has also been a reliable steady hand for the Austria team over the past months, being a top scorer alongside fellow back Katarina Pandža.

“Overall, I'm very pleased with the development. The more experienced players help the newcomers at all levels, and the balance between 'young' and 'old' is also perfect," said Tijsterman for the official website of the Austrian Handball Federation. 

Experience will therefore be Austria’s Achilles’ heel in this competition, where they will face co-hosts the Netherlands, Argentina and Egypt, in a well-balanced group, with teams from three continents represented. And Austria will surely miss players like Sonja Frey or Petra Blazek, who retired from the national team over the last years.

“Our objective is to secure a place in the main round, of course, and then we will see what happens,” added Tijsterman, who will face her former side, the Netherlands, which she led at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship.

Key players: Johanna Reichert (left back), Katarina Pandža (left back), Lena Ivancok (goalkeeper)

Coach: Monique Tijsterman

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: European Qualifiers – Phase 2: 66:54 against Turkiye

History in tournament: 1957: 6th, 1986: 12th, 1990: 5th, 1993: 8th, 1995: 8th, 1997: 11th, 1999: 3rd, 2001: 7th, 2003: 11th, 2005: 13th, 2007: 16th, 2009: 10th, 2021: 16th, 2023: 19th

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group E (Netherlands, Austria, Argentina, Egypt)