Bahrain arrive at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 for just their sixth IHF Men’s World Championship appearance, having made their debut at the 2011 edition in Sweden.

Fourteen years ago, the Asian side could only finish 23rd out of 24 teams, but they have not seen their ranking dip below that in their four appearances since, most impressively finishing 16th last time out, in 2023.

At Poland/Sweden 2023 they drew with Tunisia (27:27), lost to Denmark (21:36) and beat Belgium (30:28) in the preliminary round. In the main round, they lost to 2025 group opponents Egypt (22:26) and Croatia (32:43), but beat the USA (32:27) to finish in the top half of the championship now featuring 32 teams.

Former Iceland national team coach Aron Kristjansson oversaw that result and returns to world championship action once again with Bahrain, looking to consolidate their position as one of the top national teams in the world.

The relationship between coaches from Iceland and Bahrain has been a long one, started by the legendary Gudmundur Gudmundsson, who took over the head coach role in 2017, before handing over to Kristjansson in 2018.

Kristjansson subsequently brought in fellow Icelander Halldor Johann Sigfusson as youth and junior coach to ensure smooth progression between the teams, with the nation qualifying for their debut Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020) under Kristjansson to make history. 

But the global covid pandemic pushed the Games back a year and resulted in Kristjansson returning to club handball in Iceland. German coach Michael Roth briefly then took charge of Iceland before Sigfusson took full control.

Sigfusson then made his own history, leading Bahrain to their first-ever IHF Men’s World Championship main round spot at the newly-expanded-to-32-teams Egypt 2021, but Kristjansson was persuaded to return for the delayed Olympic Games in 2021 and has been in the hotseat ever since.

Despite the success in the early part of this decade Bahrain’s lead-in to 2025 has not been smooth. A third place gained at AHF Men’s Asian Championship in January secured their world championship spot.

Their continental campaign saw them unbeaten in their first five games (winning four vs Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, UAE, Iraq, Republic of Korea and drawing one, against Kuwait), however, a semi-final loss (17:20) against Japan was a disappointment. This set them up with a bronze medal play-off against fellow 2025 competitors, Kuwait, which they won (26:17).

Kristjansson’s side then missed out on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in July and August, after first losing the final of the Asian qualification (to Japan) and then losing all three games in their second chance, Olympic Qualification Tournament (against Spain, Brazil and Slovenia).

Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 represents an opportunity for Bahrain and Kristjansson to push through a newer generation into the squad, following the path laid over the past decade.

“We are looking forward to the world championship and have been preparing a change of generation in our team,” explained Kristjansson ahead of the championship, to ihf.info.

“There are younger players who are taking more responsibility and growing in the team. This world championship is a very important tournament for them to take the next step in their development and gather more experience.”

The new generation include 23-year-old centre back Mohamed Habib Nassar who is an important element in attack and has had multiple senior tournament experience already. Newer faces include right back Jassim Khamis (22), left back Ahmed Redha (21) and centre back Mujtaba Al-Zaimoor (24).

Kristjansson will combine these with older and more experienced players such as goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulla Husain, defensive specialist Mohamed Habib and line player Mohamed Mirza with the hope he can find the right mix to continue the Icelandic progression of the Bahrainis.

“Our main target is to qualify for the main round. We are in a difficult group so it will be a tough task for us,” he explained. “Our first game is against Croatia, a country with a big handball tradition, many good players and who are playing at home. They will probably have high ambitions for this tournament with a new coach (Icelander Dagur Sigurdsson) in charge. I know Dagur well and I am sure that they will be very well-prepared for this tournament.

“Next, we have Egypt, who are one of the top teams in the world at the moment, with many quality players and a high talent mass, so I will say that we have a difficult task ahead of us in our first two games in the group.

“In our final group game we play Argentina,” he continued. “They have been fighting with Brazil about who wins in South America for many years now. Argentina did qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, so that says a lot about their strength but this is the game that will probably decide if we can qualify for the main round.”

To prepare for the world championship, Bahrain are having a training camp at home in December with two friendly games planned, before traveling to Denmark in January to play two games against their hosts ahead of their final departure to Croatia.

Coach: Aron Kristjansson

Key players: Jassim Khamis (right back), Ahmed Redha (left back), Mujtaba Al-Zaimoor (centre back) Mohammed Abdulla Husain (goalkeeper), Mohamed Habib (defence), Mohamed Mirza (line player)

Qualification for Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025: 2024 AHF Men’s Asian Championship – 3rd

History in the competition: 2011: 23rd, 2017: 23rd, 2019: 20th, 2021: 21st, 2023: 16th

Group at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025: Group H (Argentina, Bahrain, Croatia, Egypt)