Hungary and France move to Zagreb from Varazdin, looking to upset Croatia and Egypt respectively, two teams who have been present in the Croatian capital since the start of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.

The co-hosts have an unfamiliar first slot, against neighbours Hungary, while France and Egypt renew their rivalry in the late game in the 15,600 sell-out Arena Zagreb.

Four Placement Matches will decide the final standings in the competition between the 25th and the 32nd places, with Poland and the USA colliding in the final of the President's Cup.

QUARTER-FINALS

• 18:00 CET Croatia vs Hungary

With captain Domagoj Duvnjak carrying an ankle injury severely restricting his playing time, the player has taken up more of a support role from the bench in recent Croatia games.

And he is likely to feature little again on court in what could or could not be his final game in a Croatia shirt after announcing last year that he would be retiring from national team duty after the tournament.

But Duvnjak is not the only injury worry for his side, as David Mandic, initially left out of the squad in the early games due to injury, before returning midway through the event, suffered a hand injury in their Slovenia win on Sunday and is now out of the competition for good, with surgery planned for Wednesday.

And, the team is suffering from their exertions on court, as according to the Croatian Handball Federation website (hrs.hr), their “…three physiotherapists and doctors had their hands full and worked practically all night (after the Slovenia game). The pain had to be alleviated and the wounds of many injured players had to be patched up.”

And that 29:26 win against Slovenia, was a relief for all inside, ensuring one more game for the Croatians in front of their home fans.

“I would like to describe, what I felt at this moment, but it's really difficult to describe, because always through your mind it's something like; Oh my God. Maybe it's your last game, maybe not,” said Igor Karacic to ihf.info when asked about his full breath of relief and looking up to the sky when lining up at the end of the Slovenia victory. “We won this game and in the end it's not my last game for the Croatian national team.”

The emotional state for Croatia in front of the sold-out arena was evident for all and that state will have to be managed against Hungary, not least by the effervescent Filip Glavas, who had an ongoing relationship with his chair throughout that Slovenia victory.

“It’s a love-hate relationship,” he said about the chair and him. “In the second half I'm on the bench, we have our tactics like that, and I'm full of emotions. I fight for every centimetre, so I know how much these guys deserve my support, and I try to give my best. Maybe, sometimes, the chair takes the beating, but it’s all for the team. We have a plan and with this kind of audience I hope we will fly even more.”

“Hungary will be difficult, we have to start the match in the opposite way as against Slovenia, because if we enter badly, the Hungarians will not let us come back,” added Marin Sipic to ihf.info. “The match will mean the same to them as it does to us - entry into the semi-finals”.

Both teams have lost just once in their six games so far. Hungary started their campaign with a draw against North Macedonia (27:27), before wins against Guinea (35:18) and Netherlands (36:32), a loss against France (37:30) and further victories against Austria (29:26) and Qatar (29:23), while Croatia beat Bahrain (36:22) and Argentina (33:18), lost to Egypt (28:24) before defeating Cape Verde (44:24), Iceland (32:26) and Slovenia (29:26).

Croatia and Hungary have met 35 times, with Croatia winning 19, drawing five and losing 11. The last two clashes have seen Hungary win both times, with a 26:21 EHF Euro Cup win in 2021 and 2024 European Championship win (29:26).

“Everything is positive and fine around the team. We are happy to be here, and we are ready also for the fight against Croatia,” said Hungary’s Bence Banhidi to ihf.info after arriving in the Croatian capital. 

“We know we will play front of 15,000 people in Croatia against Croatia, so it will be not easy. It will be a very tough game, but our team is ready [after] these two (rest) days. It's very positive for the team, it can give some plus energy for us.”

A win for Hungary would equal best result since 1997 (4th) and joint second-highest of all time (1986, 2nd) in 23 appearances. A Croatia win would be their best ranking since 2017 (4th).

• 21:00 CET France vs Egypt

France started their campaign in Porec, before moving to Varazdin and now finding themselves the only unbeaten team in Zagreb.

With six straight wins so far, against Qatar (37:19), Kuwait (43:19), Austria (35:27), Hungary (37:30), Netherlands (35:28) and North Macedonia (32:25), France are favourites going into their clash against Egypt.

The African champions have lost once in their six games, a 27:24 defeat against Iceland the only negative amongst wins against Argentina (39:25), Bahrain (35:24), Croatia (28:24), Slovenia (26:25) and Cape Verde (31:24).

Once again, Egypt are inside the last eight for the fourth, consecutive world championship (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025) and third consecutive quarter-final after the competition format and size changed in 2021.

“It's the third time in a row we have reached the quarter-finals, so for us it's a pleasure to always be in the top eight in the world. It's not easy to maintain this across six years, two Olympic Games and three or four championships,” said Egypt’s Seif Elderaa to ihf.info. “We play against one of the best teams in the world and it's going to be a fight, a war. We are going to give it our all. If we win, we win, if we lose, we lose.”

Recent history does not reveal too much, the last time the two teams met was at the Paris Olympic Games with their group game ending in a draw (26:26).

“We are really good, in good shape and were lucky enough to be able to rotate well during the group stages. Everyone is coming in with a great desire to do well,” said Dika Mem to ffhandball.fr. “Egypt is a very good team, but, at this stage, there are only big teams left. My only goal is to put a seventh (world championship) star on the blue jersey. 

“If we look at the playing times of the Egyptians and ours, we see that ours are much more balanced, and we know that in high-stakes matches, that can play a role. But many teams have also won eight-player tournaments, so I don't think that is decisive either.”

“Their game is very structured with a mix of power, with their big guys, and very well polished, because often in the Spanish style,” said France coach Guillaume Gille. “We expect a huge duel.”

A win for France would see a sixth, successive top four ranking (2015: 1st, 2017: 1st, 2019: 3rd, 2021: 4th, 2023: 2nd) and continue their extraordinary sequence of that spot in the 20th century which has seen them miss it just once (2013, 6th), while victory for Egypt would only be the second time in history that they would make that rank (2001, 4th) in 18 attempts.

“We are really proud that we are only African team in the quarter-finals and that we will fight against European teams,” added Yahia Omar, to ihf.info. “If I told you all the stories about the growth of the Egyptian national team, you would never believe me. When I came to the national team, we were not competing, we were really far off, and now everybody in the world has a problem playing against us – I am really proud to say that.

“France is going to be really, really hard. They are a really great team. They have everything, but we are going to fight. We are going to give everything, because we always want to win, we want to fight for the medals, and we can’t do it if we don’t win against France."

PLACEMENT MATCH 25/26 (PRESIDENT'S CUP FINAL)

• 20:30 CET Poland vs United States of America

This match also serves as the President’s Cup final, and while Tunisia claimed this trophy in the two previous editions of the IHF Men’s World Championship, at Egypt 2021 and Poland/Sweden 2023, now they will be succeeded by either Poland or the USA.

In the preliminary round,the Poles were drawn in the competitive Group A, where they finished fourth behind Germany, Switzerland and Czechia. Marcin Lijewski’s team became the only European side to miss out on a main round spot, but they set a goal of winning the President’s Cup and claimed three confident wins in Group I, against Algeria, Kuwait and Guinea, combining for 120 goals in these three encounters (40 per game on average), despite missing Arkadiusz Moryto and Kamil Syprzak, their top players.

USA had a similar path at the competition, but the difference is that they claimed all their three wins in the President’s Cup Group II by small margins: 27:25 against Japan, 27:26 against Cuba, and 30:28 over Bahrain. Notably, Samuel Hoddersen netted seven goals in each of these games, becoming the joint top scorer of his team.

Poland will enter their last match at this World Championship as favourites, but the USA team also have their trump cards, and they will try their best to stun the Europeans and win the President’s Cup.

PLACEMENT MATCH 27/28

• 18:00 CET Kuwait vs Japan

Kuwait, which are playing at the World Championship after a 16-year break, lost all their three matches in the opening round, but improved their results as the tournament progressed. In the President’s Cup Group I, they defeated two African sides, Guinea (26:24) and Algeria (38:31) to secure their spot at the Placement Match 27/28.

Technically, it will be their lowest-ever placement in history at the World Championship, but in the past, Kuwait finished 22nd and 23rd in the 24-team ediitons, therefore they did not really make a step back compared to those results. Moreover, their 22-year-old left back Saif Al-Dawani takes the eighth position in the scoring chart of the tournament, having a tally of 39 goals.

Japan have known better times in their history, and not reaching the main round at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 was quite a disappointment for them, yet the Asian side picked themselves up to take two straight wins in the President’s Cup Group II, against Bahrain and Cuba. 

And playing against fellow Asian team Kuwait in their last match of the competition, they would like to extend that winning run to three games. 

PLACEMENT MATCH 29/30

• 15:30 CET Algeria vs Bahrain

At Poland/Sweden 2023, Algeria had their lowest-ever finish at the World Championship, ending up 31st. Compared to that result, now they made a step forward, as beating continental rivals Guinea 32:23 in the President’s Cup Group I ultimately allowed Farouk Dehili’s team to finish third in the group and go to the Placement Match 29/30.

In turn, Bahrain, who reached the main round at both Egypt 2021 and Poland/Sweden 2023, will take their lowest-ever place at the World Championship regardless of their last match against Algeria. At the current tournament, the Asian side also won just one encounter, 39:26 against Cuba, and they finished third-placed in the President’s Cup Group II.

While Algeria play their 17th World Championship, and Bahrain feature at the tournament for the sixth time, their paths at this level have never crossed before, and both sides are determined to bow out in style. 

PLACEMENT MATCH 31/32

• 13:00 CET Guinea vs Cuba

Both sides hope to end the tournament on a high after losing all six previous games, including three in the President’s Cup. Interestingly, Guinea and Cuba even had the same goal difference in their groups at this part of the competition, 75:98, scoring and conceding the same number of goals. 

For debutants Guinea, taking their first-ever win at the IHF Men’s World Championship would be a special landmark, and the African side will try their best to achieve that goal. So far, they were the closest to grabbing some points in their opening match of the President’s Cup against Kuwait, when they lost by just two goals, 24:26.

Cuba have much more experience at this level, as this is their eighth edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship, with the eighth position at Egypt 1999 being their best-ever result. However, their last victory at the world handball flagship competition dates back to Croatia 2009, where they finished 20th, and after a 16-year wait, the Cubans would like to win at least once at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025, again on Croatian soil. 

Additional ihf.info quotes from Magdalena Tuđa, Issa Kralj, Matea Haramija, Tea Šeparović