Examining Group B: Three European sides undergoing major re-builds face Cameroon

Group B mirrors Group A at the 25th IHF Women’s World Championship, with three European sides and one African team, Cameroon, vying for the three main round berths available.

The three European teams – RHF, Serbia and Poland – are overwhelming favourites ahead of Cameroon, who are just at their third World Championship, after finishing 22nd at Russia 2005 and 20th at Germany 2017.

Their lack of competitive handball means that the African side have rarely met the other three sides in the group. Indeed, only Serbia have played against Cameroon, in the preliminary round at Germany 2017, taking a convincing 34:21 win, that propelled them to first place in the group.

However, Cameroon will be buoyed by their second-place finish at the 2021 CAHB African Women’s Championship, their best ranking since 2004 in the continental competition.

Neither Poland nor RHF have faced Cameroon, but will start the games as the favoured sides when Spain 2021 throws off in December.

RHF is likely to be the side to watch in this group, but many years have passed since the generation who won three gold medals in a row between 2005 and 2009. The turmoil regarding their coaching situation – Lyudmila Bodnieva is their third coach in as many years – could prove decisive in their challenge to better the result achieved at Japan 2019, when they claimed bronze.

After finishing second at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, RHF changed their coach, with Alexey Alekseev being replaced by Lyudmila Bodnieva, the MVP at the 2015 IHF Women’s World Championship, but without a broad experience as a head coach.

Several players have also been replaced, including backs Daria Dmitrieva and Anna Vyakhireva, who have briefly retired from handball after Tokyo 2020.

As if RHF’s mission was not hard enough, there is also the head-to-head record against Poland. The Polish side are one of the few to boast a near-flawless performance against RHF, taking four wins in five games.

One of those wins was one of the most important in Polish handball history, 21:20 in the quarter-finals at Denmark 2015, when they went on and secured fourth place in the final standings, their best-ever ranking in the competition.

In fact, RHF have not won against Poland since 1997, when they took a 24:19 win in the quarter-finals at the IHF Women’s World Championship.

However, this will not be a straightforward match, especially as Poland are now in the middle of a re-build, being awarded a Wild Card to the competition by the IHF Council.

Both sides are in good form prior to the start of Spain 2021, having been drawn in the same group for the Women’s EHF EURO 2022 Qualification Phase 2. In October, Poland won against Lithuania 36:22 and Switzerland 31:22, while RHF took a 26:22 win against Switzerland and a 35:21 against Lithuania. They will also meet in a doubleheader in March 2022.

On the other hand, Serbia have met RHF only once, conceding a 25:29 loss in the main round of the Women’s EHF EURO 2018.

But they still hold the head-to-head advantage against Poland, with three wins in four competitive matches, including a crucial 24:18 victory in the semi-finals at Serbia 2013, which propelled the Serbian side to their best-ever result in the competition.

However, Serbia will have their work cut out, as they are undergoing a major re-build to their side. Coach Uros Bregar, in the second year of his tenure, will have to make do without crucial players like centre back Andrea Lekic, line player Dragana Cvijic and right wing Katarina Krpez-Slezak, who all finished their international careers.