The Republic of Korea are one of the most decorated teams in history in the women’s competition at the Olympic Games, with two gold medals, at Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992, three silver medals and one bronze medal. In fact, in their 10 appearances, the Asian side has secured six medals.

Over the last decades, Brazil women’s senior national team has been undoubtedly the best team in South America, winning the Pan American Games in the past seven editions, winning 38 of the 39 matches played since 1999 and are undefeated in the Women’s South and Central American Championship, with a 13-match winning streak in the three editions played, 2018, 2021 and 2022.

In their first three appearances at the Olympic Games – Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 – Denmark women’s team secured a historic three-peat, having a 100% winning record and dropping a single match from the 19 they played.

Since Athens 2004, the Scandinavian powerhouse has featured only once at the Olympics, at London 2012, when they ended up on the ninth position, winning only one match and conceding four losses, three more than in the previous three editions combined.

Can France win back-to-back Olympic titles on their home court? This will be the question which will headline the women’s competition at Paris 2024, as the hosts embark for the final chapter of Olivier Krumbholz’s story on the bench of “Les Bleuses”.

Huynh Minh Ngon’s Vietnam side qualified for their third, successive IHF World Championship after winning the 2023 AHF Women's Asian Beach Handball Championship on Nusa Dua Beach, South Kuta, Bali, Indonesia last year.

Vietnam defended their title in Bali, winning all six of their matches 2-0, not dropping a set and wrapping an unassailable lead in the round-robin group two days before the end of the competition.

Memories of their gold medal at the 2016 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in Budapest, Hungary still abound within the Spanish women’s team with a trio of players from the title-winners eight years ago named in Juan Pablo Morillo’s provisional squad in Patricia Conejero, Patricia Encinas and Asuncion Batista.

Despite being a base for club handball on the sand in Europe, thanks to the numerous events held in the coastal town of Nazare – home to some of the biggest waves in the world – Portugal’s senior national sides have not yet made waves on a continental or global level, at least in the medal tables.

After winning four games at their debut continental championship last year, against Hong Kong twice (2-0) and Indonesia twice (2-1, 2-0), Philippines finally secured their spot at an IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship.

Despite being comprehensively beaten by the continental powerhouse Vietnam twice (0-2), with a points difference of -40 (scoring 35 points and conceding 75 in their four sets)