Spain are aiming for their first title while hosting the Women's World Handball Championship ©Getty Images

Spain will look to go one better than they did two years ago at the 2021 International Handball Federation (IHF) Women's World Championship on home soil, as the hosts seek their first title.

The team recorded their best result to date in Japan in 2019 when it won the silver medal, agonisingly missing the gold by a single goal against The Netherlands with the score finishing 30-29.

One concern will be the team finishing ninth at the 2020 European Women's Handball Championship, a sub-par performance.

Their opener in Group H is due to be against Argentina tomorrow at the Palacio de los Deportes de Torrevieja, with competition scheduled to end with the final at Palau d'Esports de Granollers on December 19.

They will also be looking for strong performances against Austria and China to earn a strong seeding in the main round, due to feature 24 of the 32 teams.

From there, the top two teams in the four main round groups progress to the quarter-finals, where the competition becomes a knockout round.

The Netherlands are in Group D with Sweden - fourth in 2017 and fourth at the re-arranged Olympic Games in Tokyo - Puerto Rico and Uzbekistan.

The three-time winners and European champions Norway will be considered one of the favourites and are in Group C with a strong Romania side, as well as Iran and Kazakhstan.

Olympic champions France are in Group A with Montenegro, Angola and Slovenia ©Getty Images
Olympic champions France are in Group A with Montenegro, Angola and Slovenia ©Getty Images

Newly-crowned Olympic champions France are in the best form after beating the Russian Olympic Committee in the final at Tokyo 2020.

They also claimed the world title in 2017 and were runners-up at the European Championship last year.

They are in Group A with Montenegro, Angola and Slovenia.

European bronze medallists Croatia are set to take on Japan, 2015 world champions Brazil and Paraguay in Group G, while Asian champions South Korea, who have won 15 of the 17 continental titles, will go head-to-head with fourth-place at the European Championship, Denmark.

Also in Group F are Tunisia and the Republic of Congo.

An all-European Group E features Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia; while the Russian Handball Federation, Serbia, Cameroon and Poland make up Group B.

There are four host venues - all situated in the East of Spain - for the tournament.

These are Palau d'Esports de Granollers in Granollers, Poliesportiu Pla de L'Arc in Llíria, Pabellón Ciutat de Castelló in Castellón and Palacio de los Deportes de Torrevieja in Torrevieja.

Granollers, about 30 kilometres north-east of Barcelona, is to hold the knockout rounds of the Championship.