“Our group is very competitive,” says Angola coach Nelson Damião Catito. In Group C, his team and Japan might appear as the underdogs next to Men’s EHF EURO 2020 silver medallists Croatia and reigning Asian champions Qatar. However, Angola have already proven they are more than capable of winning matches.

When a nation bids to host a major international event, part of the hope is that their own team will be able to put on a strong showing that does the championship justice. Looking at the Egypt men’s national team results over the last years and how their players are progressing on an individual level, 2021 may be just the culmination of perfect circumstances needed for the World Championship hosts to see a noteworthy result.

For many years, Argentina consistently ranked among the top teams in Pan America – precisely, they reached every continental championship final from 1996 to 2018 apart from one. From those finals, they took seven trophies and four silver medals, along with their one ‘blip’ in 2016, a bronze medal. 

At the 2015 IHF Men’s World Championship, Qatar made a name for themselves in the handball world. The silver medal they claimed on home soil – they lost to France 22:25 in the final – set the bar considerably high for them in the following international competitions.

Still led by legendary Spanish-born coach Valero Rivera, they ranked among the top eight teams at France 2017 – for the second time in history. Two years later, at Germany/Denmark 2019, they did not succeed to make it into the main round and had to settle for 13th place.

Having missed just six IHF Men’s World Championships, Hungary are one of the most experienced countries when it comes to the competition – yet, they have only a solitary medal to their name, a silver won in 1986.

Just over a decade later they played for a medal again but lost the bronze-medal match against France in 1997 and those two top four places are as good as it got, with this millennium seeing them finish no higher than sixth.

Sweden have been fighting to return to the top of the global rankings for many years, following a period as one of the most prominent sides in men’s handball history from the mid-1980s to the turn of the millennium. With 11 medals, they rank alongside France as the most decorated team at the IHF Men’s World Championship, having won four titles, three silver medals and four bronze. 

Last January, Tunisia went through a heartbreaking 2020 CAHB Men’s African Championship on home soil as a packed arena witnessed a painful loss in the final against Egypt, 23:27.

Therefore, changes were due for the “Eagles of Carthage” and Spanish coach Toni Gerona was replaced with former Tunisian ace, Sami Saïdi.

Only the third Tunisian coach to assume the role in the past 11 years, Saïdi will have his work cut out in Egypt, as Tunisia’s group includes reigning European champions Spain, Poland and Brazil.

Egypt 2021 could potentially see Austria’s best-ever finish in a modern-day IHF Men’s World Championship, with their Slovenian head coach Aleš Pajovič getting the best out his players in recent years.

Pajovič, who turns 42 the week before Egypt 2021, guided Austria to their best-EHF EURO finish in January 2020, when they finished eighth in the event hosted by Austria, Norway and Sweden.

Could it be third time lucky for Norway at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship after two silver medals in a row at the 2017 and 2019 editions?

Only time will tell, but for usual captain, the 38-year-old Bjarte Myrhol, it is touch and go for Egypt after undergoing shoulder surgery – and with him, Christian Berge’s side could be missing not only an influential player as Myrhol was voted as the best line player for both the 2017 and 2019 World Championships but also a leader.

“We want to do better than the last time, in which we were 24th. But of course, we also want to present Japan with a positive and exciting handball that would give us hope for the Olympics in the next summer,” affirms Japan coach Dagur Sigurdsson.