Sandra Zapletal has made history at the International Handball Federation -IHF- Men’s Youth World Championship by becoming the only woman to lead a team in this edition. A former player forced to retire at the age of 26 due to injury, she has dedicated her career to coaching and developing young talent in Austria. “For people on the outside it is something special. For me, it is not, I have been doing this for 20 years and many of my players have known me since they were children. It does not matter if I am a woman or a man,” she explained.

Her presence on the bench is exceptional even in women’s handball, where at the 2023 World Championship only two female coaches participated: Montenegrin Bojana Popovic and Paraguayan Marizza Faria. “If a woman likes this job and feels comfortable doing it, she should do it. I think everyone should dedicate themselves to what they enjoy, nothing else matters,” added the Austrian coach.

Austria’s path

In Egypt 2025, Austria once again placed between 13th and 16th after finishing fourth in Group I of the main round. The team fell narrowly 33:32 against Hungary, in a match decided by a last-second shot from Mate Fazekas, and later lost to Switzerland, affected by the physical and mental fatigue. “The fight against Hungary cost us too much energy, and we made easy mistakes in the first half against Switzerland,” said Zapletal.

Earlier, Austria had also lost to Sweden, reigning European champions and quarter-finalists. The team’s next match will be against Slovenia in the Placement Matches 13-16. A win would set up a clash against the winner of Japan versus Saudi Arabia, with the chance to equal the country’s best-ever result at a Men’s Youth World Championship.

Limits in the national league

Beyond her role with the national team, Zapletal works as head of development at Fivers WAT Margareten. In recent years, Austria had supported the rise of young players in the first division through an agreement limiting the number of foreign players. Thanks to that measure, stars such as Nikola Bilyk, Tobias Wagner, Sebastian Frimmel and Lukas Hutecek broke into the top league at a very young age. “It was very important that these boys could play in the men’s first division,” recalled the coach.

That agreement is no longer in place, and currently the Austrian league features more than 60 foreign players. “I hope we will not pay for this in the future. We are living off what we built in the past, but I do not know what will happen with this change,” warned Zapletal, who insists on the need to provide more opportunities for young players to secure the next generation.

“We need more support from the league and more opportunities”

The progress of the national teams has coincided with development work. The senior squad, now led by Iker Romero, achieved an eighth-place finish at the EHF EURO 2024, their best-ever result, and took 17th place at the 2025 World Championship, the highest in the last decade. The youth system also delivered progress, such as the 11th place at the Men’s Junior World Championship, highlighted by the strong performance of 21-year-old goalkeeper Leon Bergmann.

“We are trying really hard to improve even more, but we need more support from the league and more opportunities for young players to get their experience in the Austrian first division,” underlined Zapletal, who is leading Austria at her first Men’s Youth World Championship as head coach in Egypt 2025