Argentina took their seventh trophy at Pan American Championships end of June 2018 at Greenland – and mainly their coach made history: After Jordi Ribera (Spain), Valero Rivera (Qatar) and Toni Gerona (Tunisia), Manuel Cadenas steered the “Gladiators” to the gold medals – therefore all four current continental champions are coached by Spaniards.

Three times – in 2014, 2016 and 2018 – the Angolan men’s team made it to the semi-finals of the African Championships twice (in 2016 and 2018) and they took the bronze medals home to Angola. Beating Morocco 29:26 at the 2018 African Championships at Gabon meant the fourth ticket straight to a Men’s World Championship for them. Almost all players are signed by clubs in the capital Luanda, few such as centre back Edvaldo Ferreira (Etoile de Tunis/Tunisia), play abroad. But coach Alexandre Diogo Machado formed a team, which is competitive on the continental stage.