Even BIH is not giving up the fight for the last “wild card” for the World Handball Championship.
Source: Marco Wolf / imago sportfotodienst / Profimedia
The BIH handball team failed to qualify for the World Championship in 2025, as it was eliminated by the Portuguese in the two-match playoff.
After the defeat in the first match 29:19, Damir Doborac’s team “sold their skin dearly” in the rematch on Sunday and drew with Portugal 26:26 in the Mejdan hall in Tuzla.
The Portuguese celebrated their sixth participation in the world championships by singing the famous Serbian folk song, while the “dragons” stayed at one participation, the one from Qatar in 2015.
After the play-off matches, all participants of the World Championship are known, and two places are reserved for teams that will receive special invitations. The IHF has already awarded one to the United States national team, so one more remains to be won by one of the European selections.
The battle for the wild card was announced by Serbia, whose federation already sent a request to the IHF on Monday, but the BiH Handball Federation did not give up the fight either, although they are aware that they have a rather small chance of getting a “wild card”.
“During today or tomorrow, we will send a request for an invitation to the World Cup, although we have to be realistic and say that there is little chance of getting it, considering the results of the teams competing with us in the previous championships. We will certainly do everything we can is up to us”RSBIH General Secretary Nedim Arnautović told MONDO.
Rivals of the “dragons” in this “fight” for the last place at the World Cup are Montenegro, which unexpectedly lost to Italy in the play-off, the Serbian selection that was within reach of a surprise against Spain, and Georgia, the Faroe Islands, Switzerland, Romania and Greece.
All these selections were better placed than Bosnia and Herzegovina at the last European Championship, since the “dragons” took the last, 24th place after losing to the debutant Georgia.