Croatia shocked the handball world at the EHF EURO 2020 when they won the bronze medal and have since dreamt of new successes on the court. European medal marked their return to the IHF Women's World Championship and with a new generation led by the head coach Nenad Sostaric, Croatia are eager to continue on the same path.

After claiming second place at the 2019 IHF World Championship in Japan, Spain had high hopes for the 2021 IHF World Championship on home ground. They got the first blow in the semi-final against winners Norway, with the second one following only two days later in the bronze-medal match, where they lost against a strong Denmark outing. 

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.