After 12 years of absence from the world stage, Austria finally returned to the 2021 IHF World Championships in Spain. But there was no happy ending to that story as the team led by head coach Herbert Müller had to improvise throughout the whole tournament due to players testing positive for COVID-19. However, they managed to proceed to the main round and finished their campaign with a win against Croatia, ending up on the 16th place. 

The 2023 IHF World Championship marks Iceland’s fourth appearance at a major nternational competition, but only their second one at the IHF Women's World Championship. They qualified only once before for a World Championship in 2011, finishing in 12th place. In this period, they also qualified for the European Championship two times in a row in 2010 and 2012, finishing both tournaments in 15th place. 

Croatia shocked the handball world at the EHF EURO 2020 when they won the bronze medal and have since dreamt of new successes on the court. European medal marked their return to the IHF Women's World Championship and with a new generation led by the head coach Nenad Sostaric, Croatia are eager to continue on the same path.

After claiming second place at the 2019 IHF World Championship in Japan, Spain had high hopes for the 2021 IHF World Championship on home ground. They got the first blow in the semi-final against winners Norway, with the second one following only two days later in the bronze-medal match, where they lost against a strong Denmark outing. 

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.