At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Slovenia recorded the best rank in their Olympic history, finishing sixth after falling short against the later gold-medallists Denmark in the quarter-finals. 

Since then, the journey has involved several ups and downs. 

In 2017, the Balkan side celebrated the bronze medal at the IHF Men’s World Championship in France after a phenomenal comeback against Croatia which propelled them from trailing by seven into the 44th minute to a 31:30 victory. 

Portugal always pride themselves on their team spirit, grit and determination and they will need plenty of that in the Tokyo Handball Qualification 2020, where they will face France, Croatia and Tunisia for a place at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Yet, being on the court with a huge chance to write history for Portuguese handball was probably one of the last things in the minds of Paulo Pereira’s players, when tragedy struck with only two weeks to go before the three games to be played in Montpellier.

Algeria were the second-best African team at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship in Egypt, progressing to the main round to finish 22nd.

‘Les Fennecs’ celebrated their only win against another African contender – Morocco – in the opening match of their World Championship campaign. After trailing by seven at half-time, they mounted a miraculous comeback in the second half, securing a 24:23 victory, which saved them the ticket to the main round after losses against Iceland and Portugal.

Once more, Egypt proved to be excellent playing ground for Sweden. After winning the gold medal at the IHF Men’s World Championship in 1999, they almost repeated history in 2021, stopped only by Denmark in the final, leaving them with the silver medal around their necks.

New head coach Glenn Solberg did an excellent job at his first major international championship and formed a very strong and competitive team in the absence of several key players from previous years in short time.

The South American nation of Chile have never had a handball team qualify for an Olympic Games, but could they finally achieve it this year?

In the past two years they have beaten two of the three teams they face in Montenegro – Brazil (2019) and Republic of Korea (2021) – and if they repeat that in Podgorica, they could find themselves preparing for Japan in just under 150 days. Completing the group is European heavyweight Norway.

Facing three European sides for two places at the Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer is a tough task for any African side, but Tunisia remain upbeat before the Tokyo Handball Qualification 2020 in Montpellier, which will be staged from 12 to 14 March.

The Tunisian side finished a disappointing 25th at the 27th IHF Men’s World Championship in January, yet Sami Saidi’s side claimed four wins during the men’s flagship event, including a 37:33 victory against Austria to secure the President’s Cup.