In 2015, the Islamic Republic of Iran debuted at the IHF Men’s World Championship. In Qatar, they finished 21st after winning two of their seven matches – both in the President’s Cup against Chile and Saudi Arabia.

After missing the following three editions of the tournament, "Team Melli" are returning to the world stage after an eight-year break. In January, they booked a ticket to Poland/Sweden 2023 after finishing fourth at the 2022 AHF Asian Men’s Championship in Saudi Arabia.

Hungary switched their focus to developing young players in both the men’s and women’s national teams, which proved to be a great idea as they have had their share of success in the younger age competitions, especially in the women’s category.

A simple look at the final ranking of the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship for Iceland shows their worst ranking – a 20th place finish out of the 32 teams in Egypt.

However, as Iceland head coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson told ihf.info two years ago, the ranking bore little relevance as his squad was undergoing a generational player change.

You have to go back 10 years for the last time Republic of Korea men had an uneventful IHF Men’s World Championship campaign. Spain 2013 saw a 21st-place finish, but it would take some time until they returned with full strength to the competition.

It is a new dawn for the North Macedonia men’s senior national team, as their top scorer and legend Kiril Lazarov met an end to his playing career. Yet Lazarov did not call it quits on North Macedonia, becoming the side’s coach in his first stint in this position.

The lack of experience could have been an issue, but for a player with such an illustrious career, everything went perfectly – despite the huge pressure applied to him even though he was only making the first steps.

Montenegro will return to the IHF Men’s World Championship for the first time in 10 years after they finished 22nd in 2013. However, their progress has been visible and quite clear over the past few years. They qualified for five times in a row for the Men’s EHF EURO, sealing their best result in an international competition at the EHF EURO 2022 when they secured the 11th place.

When Alfred Gislason was appointed as their men’s national team coach in 2020, Germany knew they had a mountain to climb, as a serious rebuild was handed over to the Icelander.

In the short term, the first results were certainly not what Germany would have wanted and envisioned, as the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship in Egypt brought the worst result in the team’s history: Germany finished 12th, just one place behind their previous worst outing, recorded in 2011.

Since 1993, when they won their first medal at the IHF Men’s World Championship, France have failed to reach the podium only four times. They raked up 11 medals in the process, becoming the most decorated team in the competition’s history with six titles, one silver medal and four bronze medals.

Generations come and go, but France have always been steady, continuously unearthing new talent and ushering in new players to fill the gaps. Even when top stars have retired, the team has always remained one of the best in the competition.

Starting from Czechoslovakia 1964, Egypt have participated in 16 IHF Men's World Championships. The fourth place in France 2001 still remains their all-time best result, and while it was followed by a certain crisis, the Pharaohs have shown a lot of signs of improvement in recent years and are again a force to be reckoned with.

There were scenes of joy and elation as Belgium sealed their first IHF Men’s World Championship berth in March 2022, winning 57:54 on aggregate against Slovakia in the Qualification Europe – Phase 2.

It was a totally unexpected win, especially after Belgium lost the first game of the doubleheader in Slovakia 28:26. However, they bounced back superbly to clinch a 31:26 win in the second match, as goalkeeper Jef Lettens shut down the goal with an amazing outing, saving 18 shots for a 40.9% saving efficiency.