Iceland book ticket; three ties wide open in World Championship qualification

• the only first-leg match with no winner was the Balkan derby between Slovenia and Serbia, which ended in a 29:29 draw after Slovenia left back Tjaša Stanko netted a stunning 14 times, almost half of her team's goals
• Croatia narrowly won the highly anticipated encounter with 2019 World Championship runners-up Spain: 27:26; the hosts led by five at half-time (17:12) but ultimately needed a last-minute goal from Kristina Prkacin to secure the win
• a third tie that remained undecided before the return leg was Poland against North Macedonia, after the hosts took a six-goal advantage in the first half (14:8) but in the end had to settle for a four-goal win: 22:18
• Austria won their home game against Türkiye 36:29, but the difference was only one goal with 15 minutes left to play so the team of head coach Monique Tijsterman will be wary ahead of the return leg in Amasya on Saturday 
• six teams won the first leg by an all-but-decisive margin of 10 or more goals — most notably Sweden, who found the net 51 times in a drubbing of Kosovo (51:16), though no player scored more goals in that match than the seven from Clara Lerby and Nathalie Hagman
• alongside the co-hosts Germany and the Netherlands and freshly qualified Iceland, four more European sides are guaranteed of their place at the 32-team final tournament (from 26 November until 14 December): defending champions France as well as Norway, Denmark, and Hungary as the top-three nations from the Women's EHF EURO 2024

Þórey Anna Ásgeirsdóttir scores 18 goals as Iceland ease past Israel in double-header

The first team in the final qualification round to punch their ticket for the World Championship are Iceland, which earned two clear victories when they hosted Israel in Hafnarfjordur on Wednesday and Thursday in the only double-header.

Iceland set the tone in the first match when they already enjoyed a double-digit lead at half-time (20:10) before wrapping up a commanding 39:27 victory, led by 10 goals from right wing Þórey Anna Ásgeirsdóttir, while Mor Shaul's nine goals didn't really help Israel much in the end.

Iceland hardly slowed down for the second leg, which had a more defense-focused approach, and claimed another clear win: 31:21. Ásgeirsdóttir contributed eight goals this time, raising her tally for this tie to 18 — more than 25 per cent of Iceland's total production.

main image © Mummi Lu / Iceland