When Argentina coach Rodolfo Jung announced his final preparation squad of 21 players for Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025 in early December, there were two glaring omissions – Diego and Pablo Simonet.

The brothers, with over 300 national team appearances between them, are synonymous not only with Argentina handball, but with the rise of the country in the global rankings.

Both are missing due to personal reasons, with Diego, one of the most gifted and experienced players his country – and continent – have ever produced, thanks to his EHF Champions League title, MVP of the EHF FINAL4 in 2018 and All-Star awards in the French league, perhaps the bigger miss.

“Unfortunately, we won’t count on the Simonet brothers this time but the doors are far from being closed for them. Diego is a legend of Argentinian handball,” said Jung to HandballArgentina.org when he made the announcement.

“We have a transition to make and it won’t be easy. This process will be long, it won’t be just two or three years. Our idea is to work for five or six years until we reach what we want for the team, and to show an evolution in every tournament. The average age is now 25 years old and we aim to have versatile players, taller and heavier.”

Their final preparation period for the coach and his team ahead of the championship will see the nation train in Spain (Ciudad Real), where 13 of the 21 players play their club handball, from 22 to 27 December before they travel to Doha, Qatar for another camp including friendly matches. In early January they will return to Europe, to play in a tournament in Valencia (8 to 11 January) where they will face Slovakia amongst other teams. 

“This is a new group and we have to use all chances for practice, that’s why we will train during Christmas and New Year, we won’t stop – that’s what we need,” explained Jung, who will also be without Mauricio Basualdo due to injury. “We want to compete with the weapons we have and of course to reach the best position possible at the world championship.”

Argentina will face co-hosts Croatia, alongside Egypt and Bahrain in their preliminary group in Zagreb – meaning that four different continents will be represented. Three years ago, Argentina defeated Croatia (23:19) in the main round of the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship.

To qualify for Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025, Argentina finished runners-up at their continental championship held in Buenos Aires in January. They saw off Costa Rica (41:13), Uruguay (32:17) and Paraguay (47:16), draw with Chile (27:27) and lost to Brazil (26:28).

Following on from their continental medal, the team competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after qualifying due to their 2023 Pan-American Games victory. In the French capital they lost all five of their preliminary group games, against Norway (31:36), Hungary (25:35), Denmark (27:38), France (21:28) and 2025 group competitors Egypt (27:34), despite leading by one at the break (15:14).

2025 represents a 15th, consecutive appearance at an IHF Men’s World Championship for the team after their debut qualification back in 1997 – their best ranking 11th at Egypt 2021.

Coach: Rodolfo Jung

Key players: Leonel Carlos Sergio Maciel (goalkeeper), Lucas Dario Moscariello (line player), Ramiro Martinez (right wing), Pedro Martinez Cami (centre back), Nicolas Bono (centre back)

Qualification for Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025: 2024 SCAHC Men’s South and Central American Men's Championship – 2nd

History in the competition: 1997: 22nd, 1999: 21st, 2001: 15th, 2003: 17th, 2005: 18th, 2007: 16th, 2009: 18th, 2011: 12th, 2013: 18th, 2015: 12th, 2017: 18th, 2019: 17th, 2021: 11th, 2023: 19th

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