China seek main round spot at 19th consecutive IHF Women's World Championship appearance

For the 19th time in a row, the People’s Republic of China will be present at the IHF Women’s World Championship, one of the longest streaks in history for any team present in this edition of the world handball flagship competition.

The Asian side’s best results – two top-10 finishes – came in 1986 and 1990, when they ended up ninth and eighth respectively, as well as a 12th place finish in 2009, when the People’s Republic of China were the hosts.

Since then, China have never made it out of the preliminary round, and in the last three editions of the competition they ended up 23rd, at Japan 2019, 32nd at Spain 2021, when the team retired after the preliminary round due a plethora to Covid-19 cases, and 28th in the previous edition in 2023.

But this time around, China will be buoyed by some influx of young talent, with only five of the 27 players on the provisional list registered before the deadline being born before 2000.

Several of the players have been part of the teams which made the top-16 at the 2024 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship and the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, with China being one of the three countries – alongside the Republic of Korea and Romania – which have only players featuring in their domestic league.

The Asian side will also have a new coach at their helm and it will be Yerime Sylla who will lead the team at Germany/Netherlands 2025. Sylla, a former player who featured in the French league and represented Senegal at the highest level, has plenty of experience in coaching national teams.

Sylla spent three years between 2011 and 2014 as the Belgium men’s national team coach, returning for another stint between 2021 and 2024. He also coached Kuwait men’s national team, and clubs in France and Luxembourg before taking over China women’s national team.

He also led the People’s Republic of China team last winter at the 2024 AHF Asian Women’s Handball Championship, when Sylla and his side finished on the fifth place. In the preliminary round, China lost against the Republic of Korea (14:25) and Kazakhstan (26:28) and then beat Hong Kong-China (38:14) and India (41:30) to end up on the fifth place.

Subsequently, the People’s Republic of China became the recipient of a wild card to take part in the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, where they will face France, Poland and Tunisia in Group F, facing a tough challenge in order to finally progress from the preliminary round for the first time since 2009.

Key players: Mengxue Zhou (left back), Xuedan Liu (centre back), Yuting Liu (left wing)

Coach: Yerime Sylla

Qualification for Germany/Netherlands 2025: Wild Card

History in tournament: 1986: 9th, 1990: 8th, 1993: 14th, 1995: 13th, 1997: 22nd, 1999: 18th, 2001: 11th, 2003: 19th, 2005: 17th, 2007: 21st, 2009: 12th, 2011: 21st, 2013: 18th, 2015: 17th, 2017: 22nd, 2019: 23rd, 2021: 32nd, 2023: 28th

Group at Germany/Netherlands 2025: Group F (France, Poland, Tunisia, People’s Republic of China)