North Macedonia are returning to the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship for the first time in eight years and will surely aim to improve their 2014 performance, when they finished 17th, especially as they will be backed by their fiery fans in Skopje throughout the whole tournament.

The main issue for the hosts is that they are unproven at this level, with this current generation failing to qualify for the W17 EHF EURO 2021, therefore never measuring their level with the top teams in the competition.

Argentina missed out on taking part at the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship only once, in 2012, as they qualified for their seventh edition after securing the second place at the 2022 South and Central American Women's Youth Handball Championship in April.

The difference between the gold and the silver medals was a single goal, as Argentina dropped their game against Brazil, losing 25:26, which meant that they finished second – two points behind Brazil in the final standings.

Hungary have constantly been one of the top teams in the younger-age categories over the last six years and they will definitely start the 2022 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship as one of the favourites for the gold medal, after claiming gold at the W17 EHF EURO 2021.

After finishing in 14th place at the W17 EHF EURO 2021, the first place which did not secure a direct spot at North Macedonia 2022, Austria were awarded a Wild Card and will make their second consecutive appearance at the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship, after finishing 15th four years ago.

Norway started their IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship appearances with a bang, finishing in second place in 2010 and in third place in 2012, before dropping to 13th place in 2014. At their sixth consecutive participation in the competition, they will surely aim to improve on the 11th place from four years ago.

This will be the fifth consecutive appearance for Croatia at the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship – yet the European side have been somewhat stuck in purgatory, finishing eighth, 10th, 12th and 14th in the previous four appearances.

As the focus shifted on young talent, new players have popped up over the last few years and their performances at the W17 EHF EURO 2021 have been impressive, especially with wins against Sweden and Montenegro.