Despite a turbulent preparation, the exotic handball players from Cape Verde managed to win their first ever World Cup.
The Africans won their opening game at the finals in Gothenburg against Uruguay 33:25 (17:11) and are about to advance to the main round, which is reached by the three best-placed teams in each group.
Other preliminary round opponents are European champions Sweden and Brazil.
The game was not only a premiere for Cape Verde due to the first win, but also for Maike Merz (37) and Tanja Kuttler (34).
The sisters from Baden-Württemberg were the first German female referees to officiate a men's World Cup match.
"We consider it an appreciation of our work to have been nominated for this World Cup," Kuttler had previously said.
The duo has been whistling together since 2008 and has also been used in the men's Bundesliga since 2019.
Six beds collapsed
In the run-up to the game, there was a lot of excitement in the Cape Verde team because six players had to change hotels at night.
The reason: the beds in the crew accommodation had crashed together.
This was reported by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“I don't understand what the hotel was thinking!
Some of the players are two meters tall and weigh over 100 kilograms.
Nevertheless, they had to lie in wooden bunk beds, which then collapsed," Nilton Delgado told the newspaper.
The 49-year-old businessman, along with other supporters, is sponsoring the stay of the Africans at the World Handball Championship.
Cape Verde had already caused a stir at its World Cup premiere in 2021 in Egypt.
At that time, the Africans were supposed to play against Germany in the preliminary round.
However, due to numerous corona cases, the team had to cancel the game and ultimately withdraw from the tournament altogether.