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In 2018, the IHF Council awarded the USA Men and Women wild card spots for 2025 and 2027 World Championships. This award was made to help the USA teams prepare for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The award, however, was not 100% guaranteed and included a vague caveat “provided that the USA National Teams have reached a certain performance level” that could be invoked to pull back the award. The first warning that this caveat would be used came on 27 March 2025 when an IHF annoucement awarding a wild card for China quietly omitted any mention of a wild card for the U.S. and was later confirmed on 12 May 2025 when the IHF awarded Croatia the 2nd available wild card for the 2025 World Championships.
While the U.S. Women’s National Team performance has been pretty low for several years it’s my opinion that the IHF decision to not award a wild card to the U.S. was ultimately triggered by a very questionable process to fire and hire a new Women’s Head Coach quickly before the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Champions this past April. This podcast (the 1st of 2 parts) breaks down how the hiring process unfolded and what I find questionable.
Here are some links to what was discussed:
- Strategic Planning History
- May 2013: Federation Planning: Right Idea, Flawed Execution: Time to Right the Ship: Link
- August 2018: USA Team Handball Unveils it’s Strategic Plan: That a Really Good Step towards Bigger and Better Developments Link
- October 2022: Strategic Planning Presentation to USA Team Handball Board of Directors: Link
- 17 February 2025: USA Team Handball announcement seeking Sr and Jr Women’s Head Coach: Link
- 17 February 2025: Coach Selection Process Procedures: Link
- 5 March 2025: Coach Hiring Announcement: Link
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