The previous IHF Men’s World Championship saw Bahrain record their best result in their short history at the event, following several years of consistently achieving top rankings at their continental championship. Egypt 2021 will be their third consecutive and fourth IHF World Championship qualification overall, and January 2021 also marks 10 years since Bahrain’s debut on the global stage. 

With a career spanning over four decades, Guðmundur Guðmundsson has been synonymous with Iceland’s best performances in handball, namely a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games and a bronze medal at the Men’s EHF EURO 2010, being touted as a national hero in the small Nordic country.

After stints as Denmark’s and Bahrain’s men’s national team coach, Guðmundsson has been back as Iceland’s coach since 2018 in his third stint in this position.

Croatia have enough talent, strength and experience to compete for the title at any major competition. “For our small country, it is a great goal to be always among the best nations and win all the medals and trophies. The passion, the cult of the national team, the love for our homeland – these are the facts that sometimes make an advantage,” says the 70-year-old Croatian coach Lino Cervar.

Since clinching the gold medal in the 2005 IHF Men’s World Championships, Spain have always been a contender for the top podium spot.

‘Los Hispanos’ finished with a perfect record at the 2013 IHF Men’s World Championship on home soil and have lost only eight of their last 44 World Championship matches.

Winning the Men’s EHF EURO 2020 put a target on their back, yet Spain remain undeterred and are vying for their third gold medal that would put them in fourth place, only behind France, Sweden and Romania for the record of most Men’s World Championship titles.

Brazil have always been an exciting team to watch but have seemed to lack the special ingredient that makes teams great. While they clinched a Round of 16 berth four times and they finished with their best result ever at the last IHF Men’s World Championship, they still never made it into the top eight as they placed ninth two years ago.  

Sometimes, it was the lack of experience, other times lack of concentration, but the team that have been dominating the sport in the Americas have not quite been able to get over that hurdle.

The team of the Russian Handball Federation experienced a more than frustrating Men’s EHF EURO 2020 campaign. They placed 22nd after losing their three preliminary round games – versus Hungary (25:26), Iceland (23:34) and Denmark (28:31).

Following the team’s unsatisfactory results at the continental competition, coach Velimir Petkovic took over, replacing Eduard Koksharov. Born in Yugoslavia 64 years ago, the coach led German club Füchse Berlin from 2016 until 2020.

After winning their first IHF Men’s World Championship medal in 1993 with silver in Sweden, the French men’s national handball team have only missed the podium three times in the following 13 editions, racking up six gold medals and four bronze medals to go with that silver – a total of 11 top-three finishes in the last 14 championships.

But they come to Egypt 2021 off of their worst-ever European Championship performance as they finished 14th after crashing out in the preliminary round of the Men’s EHF EURO 2020, beaten by Portugal and Norway in January.

For the first time, Denmark will enter the IHF Men’s World Championship as the title holders. At Egypt 2021, due to the postponement of the Olympic Games, they will also take the court as current Olympic champions. 

However, even Denmark themselves will not take these factors as representative of their chances at the World Championship, as their most recent campaign at a major international event saw the Scandinavian side face a tough lesson. 

The 2019 IHF Men’s World Championship was held in two host countries – Denmark and Germany – and while the Danes took home the gold medal, it was pure heartbreak for Germany, who finished in fourth place.

After treating crowds in Berlin and Cologne to a series of eight unbeaten games, featuring six wins and two draws, Germany ran out of steam in Hamburg against Norway in the semi-final, losing 31:25, and then losing to France’s last-second winner in the bronze-medal match in Denmark to ensure the joint-hosts did not make the podium.