Women’s Handball World Championship:
Iran falls to Hungary in second group game
Iran fell to a second straight defeat at the IHF Women’s Handball World Championship in Germany and the Netherlands, suffering a 47-13 loss against European powerhouse Hungary in the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch on Saturday.
The defeat left Iran at the bottom of the Group B table, while Hungary maintained a perfect record to remain at the top, holding a superior goal difference to Switzerland.
Hungary will now face Switzerland in the final round of the group stage in a direct battle for first place and the chance to carry full points into the main round. Iran will face Senegal to fight for the group’s final main round spot, with the losing side moving on to the President’s Cup.
From the very start, the disparity between the two teams was obvious. Hungary got off to a blistering start, building an early 4-0 lead, while Iran had to battle hard to find its way to the goal. Iran’s first goal came in the fifth minute, the second in the sixth, and then a long scoreless drought followed.
In the next 14 minutes, Iran scored only twice, while Hungary kept piling on goals and was already up 18-4 by the 20th minute. In those opening 20 minutes alone, Hungary coach Vladimir Golovin had already rotated his entire squad, and 12 of them had scored. Many of the goals came from fast transitions.
The Hungarians were backed by a strong performance from goalkeeper Kinga Janurik. Whenever Iran did manage to break through late in the half, it was mostly thanks to Haniyeh Karimi. The team also missed their left back, Nastaran Koudzari, who was injured in the opening minutes. For the second match in a row at Germany/Netherlands 2025, the inexperienced Iranian side finished the first half with just seven goals, while Hungary was already closing in on the 30-goal mark.
The same pace continued in the second half, though Iran showed more confidence compared to its first match against Switzerland, where they managed to score only twice after the break. This time, they scored four goals within the opening 12 minutes. Iran kept fighting, but Hungary did not slow the tempo.
By the 50th minute, Hungary had already reached the 40-goal mark and finished with 47. The result marks Iran’s largest losing margin at the World Championship. The previous record was a 45-22 defeat to Germany in 2023.
For Iran, Aseman Badvi and Karimi led the scoring with three goals each. On the Hungarian side, where all players featured, Gréta Márton scored nine, and both Kinga Janurik and Anna Bukovszky finished with save percentages above 50%.