“Hard to believe”
World Cup debacle for Sweden’s handball players
12/8/2025 – 6:58 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Sweden’s women finished fourth at the last World Cup and also at the Olympic Games in Paris. They can only dream of a place like this at this year’s World Cup.
Sweden’s handball players experienced a debacle at the World Cup in Germany and the Netherlands. They lost 24:26 against outsiders Angola on Sunday evening in Dortmund. A result that fits perfectly into an already messed up tournament. The team from Scandinavia had previously lost against Brazil and were outplayed by their neighbors Norway. It was already clear before the Angola game that it wouldn’t be enough to make it to the quarter-finals.
The result is a severe setback for the ambitious Swedes. Because they are actually one of the top favorites. They finished the last two Olympic Games in fourth place, and the same applies to the 2023 World Cup. At last year’s European Championships they finished fifth. According to the Swedish media, the elimination as fourth in the group in the main round is the worst performance at a World Cup in the association’s history.
Swedish handball coach and TV expert Claes Hellgren said on Viaplay: “It’s really, really sad. It’s really bad how Sweden lost here today. It’s hard to believe that’s true.”
National player Jamina Roberts was shocked by her own team’s performance: “I can’t find the words for it. Almost everything went wrong. We wanted to end this with some dignity, but we didn’t succeed.”
As is well known, things are going much better for the DHB women, who have won all the games so far and are in the quarter-finals. They will face Brazil there on Tuesday.
Kick-off for national coach Markus Gaugisch’s team is at 5:15 p.m. DHB CEO Mark Schober was full of anticipation: “This quarter-final in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle will be the biggest home game for German women’s handball since the home World Cup in 1997.”