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.