Group D of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship is one of the two groups with at least three European teams at the start, which is likely to provide some entertaining and well-balanced matches, with the final spot being completed by the only debutant in the competition at this edition, Guinea.

Hungary, the Netherlands, North Macedonia and Guinea will fight for the three main round berths, with the three European sides being overwhelming favourites to make it to the next phase of the competition, as Guinea are yet unproven, after making it to the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship after finishing on the fifth place at the 2024 CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship.

Hungary, the team which was in the first pot at the draw for the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, will be the favourite team in this group, due to their experience, depth and talent. In the past two editions of the IHF Men’s World Championship, the European side finished fifth and eighth respectively, while in 2017 they also finished on the seventh place.

In total, Hungary have made the top-10 in their past nine appearances in the world handball flagship competition and have a positive head-to-head balance against all the teams they played against in this group.

While they hold a two-to-one winning ratio against the Netherlands, after their 28:27 and 35:30 wins in the EHF EURO 2018 Qualification, Hungary lost the only match played against the Netherlands in a major international competition, 28:31, at the EHF EURO 2022, in Budapest, a match which eventually led to Hungary’s untimely elimination in the preliminary round of the competition they co-hosted.

Hungary will also have a chip on their shoulder after finishing on the 10th place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as a change of generation was already in place, with young stalwarts as Bence Imre taking even more responsibility in the team.

Chema Rodriguez’s side also has a 100% record against North Macedonia, having won five out of five matches, while this match in the Varaždin Arena is the first between the two sides at the IHF Men’s World Championship. The two sides have met twice at the EHF EURO, when Hungary took a 29:20 win in 1998 and a 31:25 win in 2014, while another match saw a well-balanced clash for a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Qualification Tournament, when Hungary took a 28:26 win.

North Macedonia have qualified for the seventh consecutive time at the IHF Men’s World Championship, with their best finishing position being the ninth place at Qatar 2015. But it was not an easy path towards Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025, as Kiril Lazarov’s side made it through only after a 61:60 aggregate win against the Faroe Islands in the Qualification Europe Phase 2 – Part 2.

With Lazarov as coach now for more than two years, in his second edition of the World Championship after Poland/Sweden 2023, North Macedonia will be looking to improve on their last results at the IHF Men’s World Championship – the 23rd place at Egypt 2021, when they made the main round, and the 27th place at Poland/Sweden 2023, when they ended up in the President’s Cup.

For Netherlands, this will be only their third appearance in the world handball flagship competition, after the ones in 1961 and 2023. Sealing their berth for Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 was no easy feature, as they need to overcome a 27:31 loss against Greece in the Qualification Europe Phase 2 – Part 2 to secure a 58:56 aggregate win.

So far, they have finished 11th and 14th respectively in their last two appearances, but equipped with more experience and a huge amount of talent in their back line, with Kay Smits, Luc Steins and Dani Baijens, the Netherlands are due for a top-10 result in the near future.

The only meeting between the Dutch side and North Macedonia came at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, when the two sides were also in the same preliminary round group. Back then, the Netherlands enjoyed a 34:24 win against their European counterparts, with a 10-goal match from Steins.

The last team completing Group D are Guinea. The African side secured their best-ever performance at the CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship in January 2024, when they finished on the fifth place, after being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Tunisia, 24:37, but beating Angola (25:23 after penalties) and DR Congo (29:26) in the Placement Matches to secure their World Championship berth.

With players featuring in the lower leagues in France, as well as some in the first French league, Guinea will aim to earn some much-needed experience, trying to build on this appearance to a successful future.