Coach: Helfried Muller

Key players: Nina Neidhart (left wing), Lea Kofler (centre back)

Qualification information: Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2017 – 14th place (Replacement for Brazil)

History in tournament: 2006-2016: DNQ

Overview

Austria will make their debut at the IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship with the primary goal of gaining experience, as coach Helfried Muller sees the unexpected opportunity as a great chance to improve. Austria initially missed out on a place at the 2018 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, as they ranked 14th at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO last summer – just one position outside what was needed to qualify.

However, after Pan American champions Brazil announced they would be unable to attend Poland 2018 in July, Austria were approached by the IHF and accepted the invitation to participate.

While Austria have never contested the Youth World Championship, they have played the Junior World Championship eight times. Considering there have been 21 editions of the Junior World Championship and six previous editions of the Youth World Championship, Austria do not have a great deal of experience in these youth age category tournaments. It is therefore fitting that coach Muller has outlined the importance of gaining experience at Poland 2018, knowing that the current generation of players are crucial in the goal to develop the national teams collectively.

“The World Championship came as a complete surprise to us,” said coach Helfried Muller. “The World Championship is the best chance to gain experience and to improve in every possible way. The last meeting of the team took place at the beginning of June, so we had no preparations and have to come together quickly.

“We are in a difficult group with European champions Germany and the hosts Poland, with their home advantage. We will concentrate on ourselves and want to use the opportunity to develop further.”

Austria faced their Poland 2018 Group B opponents Germany – who went on to claim the title – in the preliminary round at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO 2017, suffering a decisive defeat. They did not meet any of the other European teams in Group B at the continental championship, so it is difficult to predict how they will measure up in the competitive group, which includes Romania, Angola and Slovakia alongside Germany and Poland.

Key players to watch for Austria include left wing Nina Neidhart, who has already moved up into the senior national squad, and centre back Lea Kofler.

Follow the Austrian Handball Federation on their website, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Group at Poland 2018:
Group B: Germany, Romania, Poland, Austria, Angola, Slovakia

Games at Poland 2018:
All times local

Tuesday 7 August: GER-AUT 10:00
Thursday 9 August: AUT-ROU 16:00
Friday 10 August: AUT-ANG 20:00
Sunday 12 August: SVK-AUT 20:00
Monday 13 August: POL-AUT 18:00

IHF and World Championship social media

Follow the 2018 IHF Women’s Youth (U18) World Championship on the IHF website, on the IHF Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels, as well as on the official event website, Facebook and Twitter channels.

Photos: ÖHB/Pucher