On Friday 26 January 2024, Guinea’s men’s team made history by qualifying for their first-ever IHF Men’s World Championship, thanks to a 29:26 victory over DR Congo in the 5/6 placement match of the 2024 CAHB Men’s African Championship.

The result had come after two preliminary round victories, against Cameroon (23:19) and Congo (25:22), combined with a 15:33 loss against Egypt. A quarter-final loss against Tunisia (24:37) did not affect the Guinean mentality as they then followed that up with a 5-8 placement round, 3:2 seven-metre win over Angola after the 60 minutes had finished 22:22. 

Then it was the turn to face DR Congo in, essentially a 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship play-off, with the subsequent victory also securing their best-ever ranking in four appearances at the continental championship, beating their sixth place gained at the 2022 edition.

Guinea will come to Varazdin, Croatia – where they will be based in the preliminary group stage – following in the footsteps of their women’s junior team who became the first-ever team from the nation to qualify for a World Championship when they qualified for the 2020 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, which would later be cancelled due to the global covid pandemic.

Since then, the nation has excelled with IHF World Championship qualification in the younger age categories. The junior women went on to qualify for the next two world championships (2022, 2024) and finished a respectable 23rd in each, while the youth women qualified for their debut IHF Women’s Youth World Championship in 2022 and followed it up with qualification again, in 2024.

Guinea’s junior and youth men’s side then both qualified for the IHF Men’s Junior and Youth World Championships next year (2025), with the youth side making their debut and junior side qualifying through to their second edition, although it will be their debut, having withdrawn from the 2023 event.

With a population of just under 12.5 million, Guinea has a lot of potential athletes but just around 1,000 registered players based in the handball hotspots around the country in the cities of Conakry, Sangaredi, Fria and Kamsar and competing in two senior leagues in both men’s and women’s handball, plus the Guinea Cup and Conakry Cup.

In Varazdin, Guinea will face three European nations in their preliminary group campaign – North Macedonia, Netherlands and Hungary – making it tough to see them getting anything from the early stages of their campaign.

It is a dream of the players to qualify through to the main round at the first time of asking, but it is also a dream for them to just be present in Croatia in January, many of whom have been playing together for many years, coming up through the youth, junior and senior sides together.

Guinea have a mixture of talent based across the globe, with many of the extended squad playing their club handball in France.

Goalkeeper Pierre Rubens is with Tremblay in the LIDL Starligue after being promoted last season from the Proligue. He was also voted into the 2024 African Championship All-star Team. On the right wing Theo Lebon plays for Saintes and is known as a deadly finisher, always close to the top of the scoring charts. Centre back, Adjiri Yven Corcher plays for Angers in the Proligue, with captain Omar Baradji playing his club handball at home, for USG (Union Sportive de Guinee).

Ahead of the championship, Guinea had a week of preparation in capital city Conakry in early December which will be followed by a preparatory training camp in Montenegro in January before travelling the short distance to Varazdin to start their exciting debut campaign.

And for captain Baradji, the championship will be a chance to see just where his nation sit in the global handball elite.

“Our main objective is to gain experience and show our potential against the best teams in the world,” he explained to ihf.info. “Although we are aware of the difficulty of the competition, we aim to obtain respectable results, to fight in each match and to write our team in the history of world handball. Each victory would be a step towards our objective of putting in a good performance and making Guinea proud.

“The character of our team is marked by great solidarity, unwavering determination and a willingness to overcome all obstacles,” he added. “We are a united group, where each player is ready to give the best of himself for the good of the team. Mutual trust, respect and camaraderie are at the heart of our operation. We face every challenge together, supporting each other, which allows us to go further. It is this cohesion that makes us strong, and we are ready to use it to shine on the world stage.”

With their debut, Guinea become the 65th nation to be represented at an IHF Men’s World Championship (including the now defunct representative sides of Czechoslovakia, East Germany, West Germany, Unified Korea, Serbia and Montenegro, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia), and 58th nation of the current 210 IHF member nations.

Key players: Theo Lebon (right wing), Pierre Rubens (goalkeeper), Omar Baradji (centre back)

Qualification for Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025: 2024 African Men’s Championship – 5th place

History in competition: Debutants

Group at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025: Group D (Guinea, North Macedonia, Netherlands, Hungary)