Croatian World Cup opener in a cauldron

On Wednesday, the atmosphere at the 2025 Handball World Cup will be electric. The arena in Zagreb will be a cauldron when one of the co-hosts enters the tournament. Around 15,000 spectators will want to see their team achieve their first victory at this World Cup, and they will tend to succeed in this endeavor with relative ease. Our Croatia v Bahrain betting tip shows that anything other than a clear victory for Hrvatska would be a big surprise.

The Croats have missed out on the quarter-finals in the last three major tournaments, but with the appointment of Dagur Sigurdsson as coach and home advantage, they should be in with a great chance of reaching the playoffs. But first of all, the aim is to survive the preliminary round unscathed. After Bahrain, the opponents are Argentina and Egypt. Hrvatska should fight with the African champions for first place.

For the team from Bahrain, this means that it will depend on the last matchday in the duel against the Gauchos, and a win should be necessary to advance to the main round. On Wednesday, we see the Bahrainis as outsiders for the time being. We tend to look at the odds for a handicap victory in the match between Croatia and Bahrain, which could be in the direction of a double-digit difference.

Among other things, our tested betting provider Interwetten offers interesting odds on a high handicap victory for the host. With a freebet that you can get here via Wettbasis, you can significantly reduce your own risk for such a bet. However, even with this bonus, we would hardly be tempted to experiment with bets on an outsider victory.

Croatia – Statistics & current form

The last year alone has been a rollercoaster ride for the Croatian handball team. The European Championship initially ended in disappointment when they only came eleventh in the final standings. Dagur Sigurdsson was then hired and led Hrvatska to the Olympic Games in Paris in the qualifying tournament in Hanover. There, however, the Croats were unable to deliver what the qualification had promised and again did not make it to the quarterfinals.

Croatia’s form trend is pointing upwards

At least the form curve is now clearly pointing upwards again in the last few matches. The Croats have won their last five internationals. In the European Championship qualifiers, the Balkan team had no problems against Belgium and Luxembourg in November, and the friendly against Italy before the turn of the year was not a real test either. In the immediate preparation for the World Cup, things did not go as well as they would have liked in the 27-25 win against North Macedonia.

In the last test against neighbors Slovenia last Friday, however, the Croatians played very well, winning by 33:25 with a margin of eight goals. Dagur Sigurdsson had to do without David Mandic, the left wing from MT Melsungen, who is still in the squad for the World Cup. It remains to be seen whether he will play on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the conditions for a successful tournament are very good. Hrvatska would play all of its matches in the Arena in Zagreb up to a possible semi-final. If they manage to fuel the euphoria in their own country with a strong performance in the World Cup opener, then the co-hosts will be a force to be reckoned with. Ahead of the clash between Croatia and Bahrain, the odds in the Betway app show that there is not much standing in the way of a victory for Domagoj Duvnjak and his teammates.

Predicted Croatia line-up:

• Goalkeeper: Kuzmanovic, Pesic, Spikic
• Backcourt: Duvnjak, Pavlovic, Cindric, Srna, Cesko, Mamic, Lucin, Maras, Martinovic, Klarica
• Left wing: Mandic, Jelinic
• Right wing: Sostaric, Glavas
• Circle: Simic, Grahovac, Susnja, Sipic
• Coach: Sigurdsson

Bahrain – statistics & current form

They still exist in handball, the dwarfs of this sport. The team from Bahrain has, however, shaken off this somewhat disrespectful-sounding title. After all, the Asians have made it into the main round in the last two world championships. So it would not be a surprise if the team of Icelandic coach Aron Kristjansson at least finished third in the preliminary round this time too.

Bahrain with a series of defeats

However, we expect the team from Bahrain to face setbacks for the time being. They will hardly be able to score against Croatia and Egypt. However, the 2025 Handball World Cup schedule has a showdown in store in the third and final group game against Argentina. As things stand, the winner of this game will advance to the main round in third place.

A sense of achievement is urgently needed anyway. 2024 got off to a good start when Bahrain took third place at the Asian Championship, thereby even securing the chance of a ticket to the Olympic Games in Paris. However, Aron Kristjansson’s team suffered three defeats against Spain, Brazil and Slovenia at the qualifying tournament.

In their immediate preparation for the World Cup, the Bahrainis chose the toughest test match opponent of all: world champions Denmark. In the two games, there were defeats with 16 and 19 goal differences. This means that the Asians now have five defeats in a row. That’s why we would definitely refrain from even thinking about placing a bet on the underdog winning a point between Croatia and Bahrain.

Expected line-up for Bahrain:

• Goal: Ebrahim, Ahmed, Abdulhusain
• Back row: Al-Zaimoor, Mohamed, Al-Sayyad, Al-Salatna, Ali, Mahfoodh, Mirza, Abdulreha, A. Merza
• Left wing: Al-Samahiji, Husain
• Right wing: Qambar, Jalal
• Circle: Eid, M. Merza
• Coach: Kristjansson

Croatia – Bahrain Head-to-head / H2H record

The game between Croatia and Bahrain is becoming a running gag at the World Cup. This encounter has been on the calendar for the last three World Cup tournaments, once in the preliminary round and in 2021 and 2023 even in the main round. In addition, there was a game in the qualifiers for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. All four games have one thing in common.

In each of these four duels, there was a clear victory for the Croats. Twice, the team from the Balkans won by a margin of ten goals, and twice, the margin was as high as eleven goals. The last time the two teams faced each other was at the 2023 World Cup. In the main round, Hrvatska won 43-32 in Malmö, Sweden. Filip Glavas and Ivan Martinovic each scored eleven times for the Croats.

Croatia – Bahrain Betting Tip

From a sporting point of view, the conditions in this opening match for the Croatian team could hardly be clearer. The co-host of this World Cup has won all four previous encounters against Bahrain, always with a double-digit margin of victory. We therefore expect Hrvatska to win the two points easily.

However, it remains to be seen how much of a spark there is between the stands and the team, and of course vice versa. For Dagur Sigurdsson’s team, it will be important to get the crowd euphoric, because they will need the support in the main round at the latest. On Wednesday, it should also go like this and with a new customer bonus from LeoVegas, we would place a bet between Croatia and Bahrain on a clear handicap victory for the hosts.

If we look at the last results of both teams, then we rather do not expect that more than 60 goals will fall. We don’t expect the Bahrain team to score more than 22 goals. However, because we are fairly sure that Hrvatska will win this match, we are offering betting odds on a home win with a total of less than 60.5 goals in the Croatia vs. Bahrain clash.