After a six-year break, the Republic of Moldova are back at the IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship, where they have already performed twice, in 2015 and 2017. Both times, the European side secured a top-10 finish, taking sixth place at Kosovo 2015 and ninth at Bulgaria 2017.

More recently, Moldova finished third at the 2021 Men's IHF/EHF Trophy, where they lost by just one goal against Bulgaria (25:26) in the bronze-medal match. 

Four years ago, Nigeria entered their first-ever edition of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, finishing in seventh place after securing two wins and a draw while conceding four losses. It was an excellent learning experience for the African side, which will be the only team from the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) taking part at Bulgaria 2023.

Malta are one of three teams alongside Great Britain and Bulgaria entering their fourth IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship. However, the eighth place at the inaugural competition at Kosovo 2015 remains their best achievement.

Now the European team hope to do better and have been drawn into Group A with Andorra and India. They have a chance to be competitive. While Malta have never faced India at this level, they comfortably defeated Andorra 36:25 in the 13th place match of the 2017 tournament.

Four years ago, at the previous edition of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, India made their debut and ended up in ninth place, saving something from their tournament in the Placement Matches after ending the group phase in last place, with five losses in five matches and the worst defence in the competition, 204 goals conceded in five matches, roughly an average of 41 conceded goals per game.

At Bulgaria 2023, Guatemala are the only team who are making their debut at the IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship. For each of their players, it is the first opportunity to participate in an event of this calibre.

In Group C, they will face Cuba and Great Britain, and while the debutants are facing a challenging task, the team coached by Carlos Alvarez hope to put on a good performance and make their fans happy with some positive results.