Presenting debutantes at M19 IHF World Championship 2023

M19 IHF World Championship is getting closer. Only ten days left until four Croatian cities welcome 32 national teams from all around the world. This is the tenth edition of this competition and the first one with this record number of participants. Among these 32 countries, there are six debutantes ready to shine on their first M19 IHF World Championship. Those countries are Burundi, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, Montenegro, Rwanda and USA.

Burundi and young handball players from that country qualified for the first time and they will come to Croatia to play in Group H. This group is playing in beautiful Opatija and their opponents will be Sweden, Faroe Islands and Iran. Their first match in this World Championship will be against another debutant, Faroe Islands on 2nd of August at 19:00 CEST.

Czech Republic is another debutant at this years World Championship. Young Czechs will be in Group C in Koprivnica alongside Egypt, Iceland and Japan. Their first game is scheduled for 2nd of August 15:30 CEST and their opponent will be Iceland.

Faroe Islands, as mentioned before, is another country that will play in group H. Opatija will be their home in the first two rounds of this competition. Next to Burundi, against whom they will play their first match, they are also in the group with Sweden and Iran. After their older team won seventh place in the IHF Men’s Junior World Championship that was held in Germany and Greece few weeks ago, we are sure these young handball players want to do even better in Croatia.

Montenegro qualified for the M19 IHF World Championship for the first time as an independent country. They will play in the group F with Norway, North Macedonia and Georgia. This group, together with group E, is playing in Rijeka. First match for the young handball players from Montenegro will be on 2nd of August at 19:30 CEST and their opponent will be Georgia.

Rwanda, second debutant from Africa and also Burundi’s neighboring country, is in group A, which means they are in the same group as host Croatia, Portugal and Algeria. This group will be stationed in the north of Croatia, in Varaždin. First game for Rwanda on this tournament will be against Portugal. It’s on 2nd of August at 13:00 CEST.

USA will play their historic first game at M19 IHF World Championship on 2nd of August at 15:00 CEST against Argentina. Young handball players from United States of America will play in group G with Germany, already mentioned Argentina and Saudi Arabia. Their group is playing in Opatija, and they will stay there also for the Main Round/President Cup.

These six countries will participate for the first time at M19 IHF World Championship and they are writing their countries handball history. We are sure they have a lot to show and we can’t wait to see all of them and their skills displayed on the handball courts of four Croatian cities.