IHF Women's Handball World Championship Preview & Betting Guide

IHF Women's Handball World Championship

Created in 1957, the IHF Womens Handball World Championship is an international tournament that now takes place every two years, the first-ever tournament was hosted by Yugoslavia and featured just nine countries, Czechoslovakia beat Hungary 7-1 in the final to claim the title. The number of participants has grown over the years, it increased to 12 in 1973, 16 in 1986, 24 in 1997 and then in 2021 which again rose to 32 countries.

The 2019 final was the closest fought final since 2003, the Netherlands won by a single point (30-29) over the Spanish and there have been three finals which have required extra time to decide the winner, those came in 1993, 1999 & 2003.

IHF Womens Handball World Championship Content

• IHF Womens Handball World Championship Preview
• IHF Womens Handball World Championship Past Winners
• IHF Womens Handball World Championship Betting Tips
• IHF Womens Handball World Championship Medal Table

Russia has made it to the final four times (2001, 2005, 2007 & 2009) and on all four occasions went on to win the gold medal making them the joint-most successful country in this tournament because their 2021 success moved Norway onto four wins too.

This tournament has had a European winner in all bar two of the twenty-six tournaments, South Korea were the first and only Asian winner in 1995 and Brazil was the first and only American winner in 2013, two years after they hosted the tournament.

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IHF Men's Handball World Championship Preview & Betting Guide

2025 IHF Women's Handball World Championship Preview

The 2025 tournament will be co-hosted by Germany who last hosted in 2017 and the Netherlands who will be hosting for a third time, however, this will be the first time since 1986.

There will be eight groups of four teams, from which the top three teams will progress to the main event, the bottom team will be eliminated and will take part in the 'Presidents Cup' to determine their final position in the tournament.

There have only ever been four hosts who have gone on to win the tournament Romania (1962), Yugoslavia (1973), Norway (1999 - Co-Hosts) and Russia (2005) meaning Germany and the Netherlands look up against it in 2025.

Each of the hosting countries, Germany and the Netherlands get automatic places in the finals along with the reigning champions France whilst the USA have a wildcard entry into the tournament.

The co-hosts have each announced the venues to be used, three in Germany and two in the Netherlands.

• 16,000 - Rotterdam Ahoy (Rotterdam - Netherlands)
• 12,000 - Westfalenhalle (Dortmund - Germany)
• 6,200 - Porsche-Arena (Stuttgart - Germany)
• 5,400 - Trier Arena (Trier - Germany)
• 3,500  - Maaspoort ('s-Hertogenbosch - Netherlands)

IHF Women's Handball World Championship Past Winners

The Netherlands won their first-ever title in 2019 when winning the tournament hosted in Japan, which backed up their silver medal position in 2015 and bronze medal position in 2017.

It was back to normal in 2021 with Norway picking up the title and now since the 1999 tournament, eight of the thirteen tournaments have been won by either Norway or Russia.

Here are the last ten IHF World Women's Handball Championship winners:

IHF Women's Handball World Championship Betting Tips

We will have handball tips throughout the tournament but first of all, if you are new to handball and are planning on placing bets during the tournament then be sure to read our best bookie for handball betting before you place your bets.

On the tips front, you have two options, you can either head over to our best handball tipsters page which will only show tipsters who have made a profit on handball over the past year and have open tips.

Secondly, you can head over to our handball predictions page, on here each match will be listed and you can see which outcomes are being most tipped and you can also read our tipster's analysis of the matches.

Last Five Tournament Favourite Statistics

The fate of the favourites has improved over the last two tournaments, the previous three saw win rates of 75%, 71% & 73% for favourites that improved to 87% in 2021 and then stayed in the 80s at 84% for 2023.

Strong favourites tend to win, those priced up 1.10 or shorter have a 97% success rate (207-214) whilst if you are looking to take on favourites then those priced up 1.35 or bigger only have a 55% which is very low for those kinds of odds.

• 2015: 66-88 (75.00%)
• 2017: 60-84 (71.43%)
• 2019: 70-96 (72.92%)
• 2021: 91-105 (86.67%)
• 2023: 94-112 (83.93%)
• Overall: 381-485 (78.56%)

Last Five Tournament Goal Statistics

The women's game tends to produce less than the men's equivalent, for this tournament, the men's version averages 56.11 goals per game whilst the women's average was 53.88, so whilst the men's average is more, there is not a great deal between them on averages.

To hit the 90% market you have to set the line at 43 goals, which reduces to 85% at the 45-goal mark and 50 reduces that to below 70% so whilst the average is 53, the majority of games will hit between 43-50 goals.

• Over 45: 414 Games (85.36%)
• Over 47.5: 386 Games (79.59%)
• Over 50: 327 Games (67.42%)
• Over 52.5: 267 Games (55.05%)
• Over 55: 195 Games (40.21%)
• Over 57.5: 146 Games (30.10%)

IHF Women's Handball World Championship Medal Table

Norway's success in 2021 moved them to the top of the pile with four wins, the same as Russia but they have now won 11 medals in total compared to Russia's five which includes four silver medals.

Both now-disbanded countries the Soviet Union and East Germany won three golds each and the only other country to win multiple golds is France who added a third win in 2023 having also won in both 2003 & 2017.