After Yugoslavia last qualified for the Olympics in 1988, Serbia have never played at this level. However, now the Balkan team are heading to Györ with the hope to break new ground and earn their first Olympic Games berth.

And although they will face strong rivals such as Russia and Hungary, this mission is certainly not impossible. In recent years, Serbia have regularly participated in IHF World Championships and EHF EUROs, and even if their results were not consistent, the team enjoyed some success. 

Slovenia are a team on the rise. After some years where they were always on the periphery of qualifying or missing a place at major international tournaments, they have become a steady presence at both European and World Championships in recent years. Since 2016, they have qualified for all EHF EUROs and World Championships – and have managed some incredible surprises during those events. 

Monday 10 December 2018 will go down in Senegalese handball history as it saw their women’s senior team, the ‘Lionesses’ defeat DR Congo 22:21 (11:9) in the semi-finals of the 23rd edition of the CAHB African Women’s Championships in Brazzaville, Congo, to make it to the gold medal match and with it, confirm their spot at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship in Japan.

Since their historic first international medal at the 2015 IHF Women’s World Championship, the Netherlands have been established as one of the strongest sides in handball. They are the only team to have reached the semi-finals at every major international event since that date – the 2015 and 2017 World Championships, the 2016 Olympic Games, and the 2016 and 2018 European championships. With those results came silver medals at Denmark 2015 and the EURO 2016, and bronze at Germany 2017 and the EURO 2018. 

However, they have yet to raise a trophy. 

Although Montenegro have not enjoyed their strongest results in the last few years, they can never be underestimated. Montenegro have experience, talent and motivation, which means they are always capable of playing a spectacular campaign and ranking amongst the top teams at any major international championship.

Having been champions in 14 of the 17 Asian Women’s Championships editions to date, it is business as usual for Republic of Korea to qualify for IHF Women’s World Championships.

Korea won the 17th Asian Women’s Championship in Kumamoto, Japan last December, going undefeated in their preliminary group then overcoming an eight-goal deficit against Kazakhstan in the semi-final 31:23. They then went on to defeat Japan 30:25 thanks to 11 goals from Ryu Eun Hee.

Cuba won all of their six games at the 2019 North American and the Caribbean Championship. They proved to be the most solid team in the region and booked a spot at Japan 2019 – which will be their fourth IHF Women’s World Championship.

“We want to make our best rank in history,” says coach Jorge Coll Arencibia, who started training the team in 2016, after a disappointing 23rd rank at Denmark 2015.

The Democratic Republic of Congo have appeared just twice at the IHF Women’s World Championship. They finished 20th at Serbia 2013 and last (24th) at Denmark 2015 with coach Celestin Mpoua Nkoua overseeing both of those finishes after taking the role back in 2012.

Since last December, Brazil collected two gold medals at continental level. They won the 2018 Women’s South and Central American Championship and a few months ago, they claimed gold at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games to secure a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Results do not lie and Jorge Duenas can see how his team is growing. “We are improving our defensive system and therefore it’s every time harder for our opponents to score – we are using different players and we have a variety of resources and a bigger potential in defence than we used to have.

Australia are back at the IHF Women’s Handball World Championship. They secured their spot by placing 5th at the 2018 Asian Championship in Japan, winning their decisive game versus Iran 30:24.

Co-captain Sally Potocki is the most outstanding and experienced athlete in the Oceania side. She plays her club handball for HC TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga and has competed at two senior World Championships: France 2007 – at the early age of 18 – and Serbia 2013 – where she top scored for Australia with 48 goals.