On Friday, the 13th, they celebrated at the World Handball Federation (IHF) in Basel.

Morocco played against the United States.

And the US won.

28:27.

In the seventh participation, it was the first victory in their World Cup history.

With that, the Americans had already reached the main round – that too is historic, because otherwise they always played for the Golden Pineapple in the “President's Cup”.

In the quest to make handball a global sport, Americans' successes are important in opening up new markets.

With the same logic, however, the IHF should then set up development programs in India and China, ideally one in Great Britain as well.

There, other professional sports dominate the markets.

For example, in English-speaking countries such as Ireland, "handball" is a sport in which you smash a small ball against the wall with your palm.

European handball is known there and in the USA as "Team Handball" and is of no interest to anyone.

Battle for Olympic status

The Americans are only at this World Cup in Poland and Sweden because they should learn.

For the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

So that the embarrassments are limited there and handball doesn't look so amateurish, the future Olympic hosts should at least understand the basics of the game - that's working quite well, also because the Swede Robert Hedin is training the Americans.

IHF President Hassan Moustafa has been fighting for handball to retain Olympic status for years.

For this he needs as many member associations as possible, not just European ones.

At the same time, he has to blur the impression that handball is only taken seriously in Europe.

That's why the World Cup is accompanied by Asian, South American and Near and Middle Eastern teams.

That's why there are always world championships outside of Europe, like 2015 in Qatar and 2021 in Egypt.

That is worthy of all honor, the non-European countries are welcome additions, but with the exception of the strong Egyptians they do not play a role.

So it's no wonder that sports fans far from the handball bubble see no difference between the European Championship, which takes place in even-numbered years, and the World Cup in odd-numbered years.

As Sweden's handball legend Stefan Lindgren said before the World Cup: "I don't know who will be world champion, I only know that the world champion comes from Europe." That won't change anytime soon.

Not that a European title is worth more than a World Cup because the opponents are better on average.