Japan have been a constant presence at the IHF Women’s World Championship over the last three decades, Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 being their 15th consecutive appearance in the world handball flagship competition. However, the Asian side was never able to match their best performance, the 7th place, in 1965.

Handball has been getting more and more popular in Japan over the last years, both in the men’s and in the women’s categories, receiving a huge boost after the Asian country hosted the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship.

This will be the 20th consecutive edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship which the Republic of Korea take part in, as the Asian powerhouse aim to finish in the top 10 for the first time since 2009, when they ended up on the sixth position.

Historically, Korea have had better results at the Olympic Games rather than at the IHF Women’s World Championship, but as the Olympic cycle comes closer to Paris 2024, the performances should be getting better and better, as the Asian side will bring an interesting mix of youth and experience to Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023.

Brazil’s golden generation, which has delivered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the IHF Women’s World Championship, winning the title at Serbia 2013, has been slowly heading to retirement, as several crucial players from that title-winning squad, like Eduarda Amorim, are no longer part of the South American team’s setup.

France are coming to the 26th IHF Women's World Handball Championship as runners-up at Spain 2021 and are, once again, one of the favourites for the medal. Olivier Krumbholz's team always aims high with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in mind, France surely want to give their best to set the tone for the competition next summer, which will be hosted by Paris and Lille.

The last major tournament held in Denmark came with a bittersweet outcome for the Scandinavian side. At the European Championship 2020, the Danish squad missed the bronze medal on home ground against Croatia, but recovered from that brilliantly over the last two years. One year later, at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, Denmark took the bronze medal, followed by the silver medal at the EHF EURO 2022.