TEHRAN – For the third time in history and for the third time in a row, Iran has qualified for the IHF Women’s World Championship, establishing itself as one of the most consistent Asian sides in women’s handball over the last years.
The gap between Iran and the two powerhouses of the continent – Japan and the Republic of Korea – remains substantial, with a clear distance in level, achievements, and consistency, but Iran has been making its strides and improving over the last years.
Its debut came at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, when the Asian sides won the hearts of neutral fans, despite conceding big losses, such as the one against Norway, but in that match, goalkeeper Fatemeh Khalili Behfar was named the Player of the Match.
Iran finished 31st in its maiden appearance in the competition, but lost all matches, avoiding the last place only due to the People’s Republic of China’s withdrawal due to COVID-19 cases in the team, www.ihf.info reported.
Two years later, at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, Iran finished again on the 31st place, but this time around, it snapped the 12-match losing streak on the court by finally winning its first match, 28:23, against Greenland, in the Placement Match 31/32.
In that edition, up and coming left back Fatemeh Merikh, who had already impressed at the junior and youth levels in the IHF Women’s World Championships, proved her potential, scoring 41 goals and finishing 10th in the top goal scorer standings, just six goals less than three players which finished joint third.
Since then, Iran has tried to improve and finished fourth for the third time in a row at the AHF Asian Women’s Handball Championship last year. They ended up on the second place in its group in the preliminary round, with a loss against Japan, making the semi-finals of the continental competition, therefore sealing its place at Germany/Netherlands 2025.
But in the knock-out phase, they had no chance against the Republic of Korea in the semi-finals, conceding a 20:33 loss, followed by a 22:28 loss against Kazakhstan in the bronze-medal match, eventually finishing fourth.
With less than three months before the start of the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, the Iran Handball Federation announced the appointment of a new coach for the women’s team, Ana Cristina Teixeira Seabra.