As widely expected, Angola won the 24th edition of the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) Women’s African Championship in June this year, following a six-month postponement due to COVID-19.

The long rebuilding period Hungary went through has certainly started to bear fruits. At the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where they reached the quarter-finals, Hungary’s top scorer was 20-year-old DVSC Schaeffler playmaker Petra Vamos. The powerful centre back recorded 26 goals in six matches – closely followed by 22-year-old right back Katrin Klujber.

In recent years, Sweden have had mixed fortunes. In 2017, they achieved their best result at the IHF Women's World Championship, finishing fourth in Germany. Two years later, Sweden took seventh place in Japan, and an 11th place at the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 was quite a disappointment for the team who lost four of their six games in Denmark.

In their nine IHF Women’s World Championship appearances, starting with their debut back in 1975 in the former Soviet Union, Tunisia have played 41 preliminary group games, winning six and drawing one.

Those wins have come in six of those nine appearances and it is likely they will need one more again to make history and qualify for the main round of an IHF Women’s World Championship for the first time at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship in Spain.

Only one country – Russia – have won more gold medals at the IHF Women’s World Championship than Norway. But this could change at Spain 2021 if the Norwegian side achieve their goal of claiming the first gold medal since Denmark 2015.

However, the Nordic powerhouse are the team with the most medals won in the competition – 10 – having reached the semi-finals six times in the last seven editions, underlining their greatness, with several generations that have dominated European handball.

Since their first participation at the IHF Women’s World Championship, at Austria/Hungary 1995, Croatia have never had to wait so many years to make their comeback. But after a 10-year hiatus, Nenad Sostaric’s side are back with a bang after finishing third at the Women’s EHF EURO 2020.

Spain have participated in 10 World Championships, and have not missed any edition since 2007, but the best performance of ‘Las Guerreras’ (‘The Warriors’) occurred two years ago in Japan, where Spain lost the final match to the Netherlands and claimed silver.

However, the team coached by Carlos Viver have failed to stay at the same level in the following big tournaments, as they finished only ninth both at the Women’s EHF EURO 2020 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

“We are in a period of renewal or rejuvenation in which we are looking for new young players who will become the leaders of our game,” says Serbia coach Uros Bregar. 

“We have a young, ambitious and fast team. The young players are willing to show themselves, trying to become leaders,” declares right wing Olga Fomina. “Everything will be new for some. At the same time, it will be vital to build team chemistry and play as one team.”

With their Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 gold medal still sparkling following their August win in Japan, Olivier Krumbholz’s France come to Spain as one of the strong favourites for not just a podium place, but another gold.

The 2017 IHF Women’s World Championship winners have a wide range of talent across the court, but their last outing in the competition could not have been more in contrast – a 13th place finish at Japan 2019, their lowest rank in nearly 30 years.