The twenty-fourth edition of ‘Round the Sports World in five minutes’ features a look at the World Women’s Handball Championships over in Germany and the Netherlands, and a mouth-watering clash in the Champions League as Bayern Munich travel to play Arsenal.
World Women’s Handball Championship 2025
- Start: Wednesday, 26 November
- Venue: Five cities across Germany and the Netherlands
- Coverage: BBC iPlayer, DAZN
- Fun fact: This is the first time this competition will feature 32 teams, from five different continents, making it the biggest one ever.
Betting
Norway are just 1.75 to go all the way at the World Women’s Handball Championship, starting on Wednesday.
They were narrowly beaten in the final of the last edition by France, which was co-hosted by Sweden and Denmark. Going down 31-28, the two teams provided one of the most exciting finals of the last few editions.
But they won it back in 2021. Further proof of Norway’s pedigree is that only Russia has won the title on more occasions than them (seven times), with Norway tied on four victories with Germany.
Next up are France. They made the last two finals and are the defending champions. One of the most consistent teams in the game, able to count on largely the same set of players for the last few years, allowing for continuity and familiarity among the players. Since a surprise 25-24 loss to Hungary last December, they’ve won eight in a row, including beating some of the better teams, and twice getting the better of the Netherlands. France are 6.00 to win.
That’s the same price as Denmark, who have been in pretty good form themselves but who have not been quite at their best at recent editions of this tournament. Though they secured third-place finishes in each of the last two editions of the tournament, you’d need to go back to 1997 for the last time they made the final, when a win over Norway secured them their only World title to date.
Expect the first round of matches to be extremely one-sided, with the tournament favourites likely to find life pretty easy against the likes of South Korea, Paraguay, Cuba, and the Faroe Islands. Just as an example, Denmark are just 1.01 to beat Japan on Thursday.
Summary
The tournament features 32 teams in the first phase, split into eight groups of four in the Preliminary Round. The top three teams from each group progress to the Main Round. The fourth-place teams from each group then move into the President’s Cup, a separate bracket to decide rankings from 25th to 32nd.
After three matches in the main round, the top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals. From that point, the tournament follows a knockout format: quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final, with an additional bronze medal match.
Matches will be held in the following Dutch and German cities: Rotterdam, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Stuttgart, Dortmund, and Trier.
Egypt, the Faroe Islands, and Switzerland are making their debut at the tournament, while Croatia are here courtesy of a wildcard entry.
Arsenal - Bayern Munich in the Champions League
- Start: Wednesday, 26 November at 20:00
- Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
- Coverage: DAZN Sports
- Fun Fact: Harry Kane has netted in 22 of the 26 matches he’s played this season. In nine of those 22 matches, he scored either two or three goals.
Betting
Arsenal are the favourites here at 2.28 with Bayern at 3.26 and the draw priced at 3.69, all at 1xBet.
These are odds that reflect the progress Arsenal have made over the last couple of seasons, from being a well-organised side with talented players to one that’s currently top of the Premier League and that seems to tick almost every box.
Goals are expected, with over 2.5 goals at a 1.7 chance, and even over 3.5 goals available at the relatively short price of 2.8. Both teams to score is 1.58 and should see plenty of business.
Arsenal will fancy their chances here, but they won’t be keen to face their former nemesis, Harry Kane. He’s the favourite to be the first goal scorer at 5.5.
Arsenal’s Sunday hat-trick hero against Spurs, Eberechi Eze, is 8.5 to score and a big-looking 19.0 to score two or more, though few would argue that Bayern aren’t a significantly better team than Tottenham.
Summary
This match certainly isn’t going to decide who’s going to win this year’s Champions League, but it may give us some clues as to how things may unfold if these two meet again in the knockout rounds of the competition, or even the final.
A final between these two is very possible given they’re currently the joint-favourites at 5.5 to win this season’s edition, with PSG at 7.0 and Liverpool at 8.0 up next.
They’re both currently top of the table with a perfect 100% record of played four, won four, with Bayern just ahead on goal difference.
Another interesting aspect of this match is that they both come into it on the back of strong performances at the weekend: Bayern beat Freiburg 6-2 in the Bundesliga, while Arsenal thrashed North London rivals Tottenham 4-1, thanks mostly to Eze’s hat-trick.
Bayern and Arsenal are both nailed on to make the next round, but a win here, and even more so if it’s a comprehensive one, could have a big psychological effect on the team that loses, so there’s more than just points and prize money at stake here.
If there’s one area where Bayern have an early advantage, is in terms of injuries. Arsenal are missing Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, while Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres are 50/50 as to whether they’ll take part in this match. Bayern are only missing Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala.
Betting Tip of the Week: Harry Kane to Score Anytime
Picking the winner of this match is easier said than done because these are arguably the two best teams in Europe at the moment.
Instead, it might be worth focusing on the best player on the pitch when it comes to scoring goals. And we all know who that is.
Harry Kane had a good scoring record against Arsenal across all those years that he played at Tottenham and is already the second joint-top scorer in the competition this year, with five goals in four matches.
The 2.5 with Boylesports that he adds to his impressive tally by scoring anytime looks a good bet.
