Article by Ionuţ Iordache, Adrian Jitea – Published on Wednesday, 03 December 2025, 02:04 / Updated on Wednesday, 03 December 2025 02:05
The Netherlands defeated Austria, score 34-22, and crowned the perfect course of the first phase of the Women's Handball World Championship.
Rotterdam Ahoy were packed again for the home match against Holland, 9000 fans contributing to a top-scoring qualification in the main group.
PHOTO GALLERY. The Netherlands beat Austria and go with maximum points in the main group
Again, Polman and her colleagues warmed up harder. At halftime they entered with an advantage of only two goals, 14-12. A health gallop followed, a 34-22 victory.
The best player of the match was voted Dutch winger Angela Malestein, author of 7 goals.
The support received from the fans is unprecedented. It's a special interaction. We can't wait for the matches in the next phase, they will surely shout even louder!
In the match against Austria we were much stronger in the second half. It happened again, this was the trend throughout the tournament. We have to see how we can raise our performances from the first half.
Who could beat us in the tournament? If we played like in the second half, maybe nobody. But we have many strong teams. At the moment, our goal is to reach the quarter-finals. We will see further
– Henrik Signell, Netherlands coach, for the IHF
The Netherlands continues with another formality in the main group, the first match being against Tunisia (December 4). Poland (December 6) and France (December 8) follow.
France and the Netherlands entered with 4 points each. Austria and Poland have two each, and Argentina and Tunisia enter without a dowry. The first two places will advance to the quarter-finals.
