When Uros Bregar took over in April 2021 just in time for the 2021 IHF Women's World Championship, Serbia were hoping it would bring long-awaited results. But the newly-appointed head coach had a huge challenge on his hands: to deal with the absence of key players such as Andrea Lekic, Katarina Krpez-Slezak and Dragana Cvijic, who have all retired from the national team

Germany have booked the seventh place at every major tournament since 2020. Despite missing the 2020 Olympic Games, they finished seventh at the EHF EURO 2020 and 2022, as well as at the 2021 IHF World Championship – always missing out on the semi-finals. 

This will be the first time in history when Paraguay make back-to-back appearances at the IHF Women’s World Championship, as the South American side is getting ready to take the court for the fifth time in the world handball flagship competition.

Paraguay have never made it to the main round and have never made it in the top 20, with their best performance being the 21st place, in 2013 and 2017. Two years ago, at Spain 2021, they finished on the 29th place, sealing two wins, as they had previously managed at Serbia 2013 and Germany 2017.