The Dutch handball players were drawn against Austria, led by former Dutch national coach Monique Tijsterman, at the World Championship draw in their home country on Thursday. Argentina and Egypt are the other opponents in the group matches that the Netherlands will play in Rotterdam Ahoy at the end of this year.
The draw took place in the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch, one of the five venues of the World Championship. The Netherlands is organizing the tournament together with Germany. Matches will be played in Dortmund, Stuttgart, and Trier.
The Netherlands was in pot 1 for the draw and therefore avoided some top countries, such as titleholder France, Denmark, and Sweden. The other home country, Germany, Hungary, and Montenegro were also not among the possible opponents for the Dutch team.
In advance, the Netherlands was already placed in group E, so they will play all group matches in Ahoy. The handball players have never played there before. In 2020, a European Championship qualifier against Spain was supposed to take place in Ahoy, but the event was canceled due to the corona pandemic.
With Austria, the Netherlands will face former national coach Tijsterman. The 56-year-old Tijsterman was the national coach of the Dutch handball women between 2021 and 2022.
With Egypt, the Netherlands will face a World Championship debutant. They already know Argentina from the World Championship in 2023. The Netherlands will be in action on November 28, November 30, and December 2, 2025. The semi-finals and final will also be played in Rotterdam.
World Championship in Own Country was goal for golden generation
For part of the golden generation, the handball World Championship may be their last major tournament in Orange. This applies to Estavana Polman, Angela Malestein and captain Lois Abbingh, among others.
In 2019, they crowned themselves world champions for the first time in history in Japan and were on the World Cup podium the two editions before. After the triumph in 2019, the Netherlands dropped slightly and finished ninth in 2021 and fifth two years later.
Tess Lieder was also there in 2019. The goalkeeper ended her international career last year, but is involved in the final tournament in the Netherlands in a different role. She is the ambassador of the World Cup on behalf of the Netherlands and was also present in that role at the draw in the Noordbrabants Museum.