2025 World Women’s Handball Championship:
Iran pitted against Hungary, Switzerland, Senegal in preliminary round
Iranian handball girls will square off against the Switzerland in their opening game at the IHF Women’s World Championship – cohosted by Germany and the Netherlands – on November 27.
The draw for the 27th edition of the flagship international event of the sport took place on Thursday at the Noordbrabants Museum in the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where 32 teams were split into eight groups of the preliminary round.
Joining Iran and Switzerland – making its debut – in Group B are 2024 European bronze medalist Hungary and Senegal, which finished runner-up in last year’s African Championship.
Iran will face Hungary at the Maaspoort in ‘s-Hertogenbosch on Nov. 29, before taking on Senegal in the same arena two days later.
The top three teams in each group will progress to the main-round group phase with the bottom sides heading into the Presidents Cup, where the 25th-32nd spots will be on the line.
This will be a third participation at the World Championship for the Iranian girls, who booked a spot at the event thanks to a last-four finish in last December’s Asian Championship in New Delhi – alongside champion Japan, South Korea, and Kazakhstan.
Iran was beaten 33-20 by record 16-time champion South Korea in the semifinals and then settled for the fourth place following a 28-22 loss to Kazakhstan.
Iranian girls finished second from bottom in the overall standings in the previous two world showpieces in 2021 and 2023, with their sole victory in 13 outings coming against Greenland (28-23) two years ago in Denmark.
Elsewhere in Thursday’s draw, defending champion France was pitted against Poland, Tunisia and wild card China in Group F.
Norway, the reigning Olympic champion, will feature in Group H, alongside African champion Angola, plus two Asian sides in South Korea and Kazakhstan.
Denmark – bronze medalist at the last two editions – will face Romania, Japan and Croatia in Group A. Denmark conceded a loss on its home court in the main round against Japan in 2023.
The Netherlands is in Group E, where the cohost is going to face Austria, Argentina and debutantes Egypt.
Germany will meet Serbia, Iceland and Uruguay in Group C, while a well-balanced Group G features Sweden – a perennial contender for world medal – and former champion Brazil, as well as Czechia – the eighth-placed side at the previous edition – and Cuba.