Since returning to the IHF Men’s World Championship in 1995, after a 37-year wait, Brazil have been always part of the competition, with Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 seeing the South American powerhouse clinch their 16th consecutive appearance in the world handball flagship competition.

However, Brazil have made the top-10 only once, at Denmark/Germany 2019, when they made the main round, won five out of their eight matches and ended up on the ninth place, following with a 18th place at Egypt 2021 and a 17th place at Poland/Sweden 2023.

The South American powerhouse made the Round of 16 at the IHF Men’s World Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and the main round in the next three editions, aiming to extend this streak and avoiding the President’s Cup for the seventh edition in a row.

However, they have won more than two matches in one edition of the world handball flagship competition only twice since Sweden 2011, with three wins at Spain 2013 and five wins at Denmark/Germany 2019, failing to really translate their performances at continental level to the world level.

So far, Brazil have won 27 matches at the IHF Men’s World Championship from 94 played, and will become the first South American team to feature in 100 matches in the competition at Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025, irrespective of their results in the preliminary round.

Brazil missed out on qualification at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Granollers, Spain, in March 2024, after finishing second at the 2023 Pan American Games, with a loss against big rivals Argentina in the final.

That loss served as a motivation to bounce back at a continental level, as Brazil emerged as the winners of the 2024 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship, taking five wins in five matches, including a 28:26 win over Argentina, in Buenos Aires, in January.

That meant Brazil were once again continental champions, in back-to-back editions, extending their winning streak in the South and Central American Men's Handball Championship to 10 matches in a row.

Their roster, coached by Marcus Oliveira, contains an interesting mix of experience and youth, as players like Haniel Langaro or Thiagus Petrus, mainstays in the previous iterations of Brazil, are now joined by young stars, like Bryan Monte da Silva, who is slowly emerging as the future of the South American side.

At Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025, Brazil will feature in Group E, which will be staged in the Unity Arena in Baerum, Oslo. It is anything but an easy task for the South American side, which would need good results at least against one of the two European sides which they are facing – co-hosts Norway and Portugal.

Brazil did not win against any of these sides in their history and will certainly face a daunting task now, but a place in the main round should be achievable as the last opponent in the group is the United States of America.

USA lost by a combined margin of 72 goals against Brazil, all the four losses coming in double digits, including a 27:40 loss in the semi-finals of the PanAmerican Games in 2023, as Brazil look set to deliver a good performance and try to better their results in the last two appearances at the IHF Men’s World Championship.

Key players: Bryan Monte (left back), Haniel Langaro (left back), Thiagus Petrus (defender)

Qualification: 2024: South and Central American Men's Handball Championship: Winners

History in the competition: 1958: 15th, 1995: 24th, 1997: 24th, 1999: 16th, 2001: 19th, 2003: 22nd, 2005: 19th, 2007: 19th, 2009: 21st, 2011: 21st, 2013: 13th, 2015: 16th, 2017: 16th, 2019: 9th, 2021: 18th, 2023: 17th

Group at CRO/DEN/NOR 2025: Group E (Norway, Portugal, Brazil, United States of America)