2025 World Men's Handball Championship qualification
The 2025 World Men's Handball Championship qualification decided who qualified for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship in Croatia, Denmark and Norway. Qualifying occurred between February 2023 and June 2024. The championship will feature 32 teams for the third time.
Qualified teams
- 1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host country for that year.
- 2 From both German teams only East Germany was qualified in 1990
Slot allocation
The slot allocation is as follows:
- AHF (Asia): 4 slots
- CAHB (Africa): 5 slots
- EHF (Europe): 17 slots (including the three co-hosts)
- NACHC (North America and the Caribbean): 1 slot
- OCHF (Oceania): 0 slots
- SCAHC (South and Central America): 3 slots
- Wildcards: 2 slots
| Detailed distribution of places (following current IHF rules[1]) | Vacancies | Details | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organisers[upper-alpha 1] | 3 | ||
| Reigning world champion[upper-alpha 2] | 1 | ||
| Performance places for the continental confederations | 12 | Based on teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding world championship | |
| Africa | 1 | As Egypt ranked 7th in previous World Championship | |
| Asia | 0 | ||
| Europe | 11 | ||
| North America and the Caribbean | 0 | ||
| South and Central America | 0 | ||
| Oceania | 0 | ||
| Compulsory places for the continental confederations | 15 | 17 compulsory places reduced by 2 due to having three organisers | |
| Africa | 4 | ||
| Asia | 4 | ||
| Europe | 2 | 4 compulsory places reduced by 2 due to having three organisers from Europe | |
| North America and the Caribbean | 1 | ||
| South and Central America | 3 | ||
| Oceania | 0 or 1[upper-alpha 3] | Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card | |
| Wild card | 1 or 2[upper-alpha 4] | ||
| Total | 32 |
Summary
Summary of qualification process
The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. In regards to the 12 performance spots, and based on the results of the 2023 Men's World Championship, Europe receives 11 more spots, while Africa takes 1.
| Detailed summary of 2025 World Men's Handball Championship qualification process | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | Direct slots | Teams started | Teams eliminated | Teams qualified | Percentage of entered teams with spots in finals | Qualifying start date | Qualifying end date |
| AHF | 4 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 25% | 11 January 2024 | 25 January 2024 |
| CAHB | 5 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 31.25% | 17 January 2024 | 27 January 2024 |
| EHF[upper-alpha 5] | 14+3+1 | 34+3 | 19 | 14+3+1 | 41.1% | 1 November 2023 | 12 May 2024 |
| NACHC | 1+1 | 6 | 0 | 0+1 | 20% | 6 May 2024 | 12 May 2024 |
| OCHF[upper-alpha 6] | 0 or 1 | 1[upper-alpha 7] | 1 | 0 | 6.25% | 11 January 2024 | 25 January 2024 |
| SCAHC | 3 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 30% | 21 February 2023 | 20 January 2024 |
| Total | 27+3+2 | 76+3 | 49 | 27+3+2 | 21 February 2023 | 12 May 2024 | |
Summary of qualified teams
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nations | 28 February 2020 | Cairo | 3 | Croatia Denmark Norway |
| 2023 World Championship | 11–29 January 2023 | Poland Sweden |
1 | None[upper-alpha 8] |
| 2024 European Men's Handball Championship | 10–28 January 2024 | Germany | 3 | France Germany Sweden |
| 2024 Asian Men's Handball Championship | 11–25 January 2024 | Bahrain | 4 | Bahrain Japan Kuwait Qatar |
| 2024 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship | 16–20 January 2024 | Argentina | 3 | Argentina Brazil Chile |
| 2024 African Men's Handball Championship | 17–27 January 2024 | Egypt | 5 | Algeria Cape Verde Egypt Guinea Tunisia |
| 2024 Nor.Ca. Men's Handball Championship | 6–12 May 2024 | Mexico | 1 | Cuba |
| European qualification | 1 November 2023 – 12 May 2024 | Various | 11 | Austria Czech Republic Hungary Iceland Italy Netherlands North Macedonia Poland Portugal Slovenia Spain |
| Oceania | 0[upper-alpha 9] | |||
| Wildcards | 18 October 2018 | Doha | 2[upper-alpha 10] | Switzerland United States |
World Championship
World champion directly qualified for 2025 edition. However, 2025 co-hosts Denmark won the 2023 World Championship, so no one took the spot.
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Denmark | |
| France | |
| Spain | |
| 4 | Sweden |
| 5 | Germany |
| 6 | Norway |
| 7 | Egypt |
| 8 | Hungary |
| 9 | Croatia |
| 10 | Slovenia |
| 11 | Serbia |
| 12 | Iceland |
| 13 | Portugal |
| 14 | Netherlands |
| 15 | Poland |
| 16 | Bahrain |
| 17 | Brazil |
| 18 | Montenegro |
| 19 | Argentina |
| 20 | United States |
| 21 | Belgium |
| 22 | Qatar |
| 23 | Cape Verde |
| 24 | Iran |
| 25 | Tunisia |
| 26 | Chile |
| 27 | North Macedonia |
| 28 | South Korea |
| 29 | Saudi Arabia |
| 30 | Morocco |
| 31 | Algeria |
| 32 | Uruguay |
Asia
Sixteen teams competed in the Asian Championship, held at the Sheikh Khalifa Sports City Hall in Isa Town, Bahrain, from 11 to 25 January 2024.[4] The top 4 reached the world championship. Since New Zealand, failed to make the top 5 of the championship, Oceania's spot was made into a second wildcard. Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan and Qatar reached the world championship.[5][6][7][8]
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Qatar | |
| Japan | |
| Bahrain | |
| 4 | Kuwait |
| 5 | South Korea |
| 6 | Iran |
| 7 | United Arab Emirates |
| 8 | Iraq |
| 9 | Saudi Arabia |
| 10 | China |
| 11 | Chinese Taipei |
| 12 | Oman |
| 13 | Hong Kong |
| 14 | Kazakhstan |
| 15 | New Zealand |
| 16 | India |
| Qualified for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship | |
| Oceanian representative |
Africa
Sixteen teams competed in the African Championship, held in Cairo, Egypt, from 17 to 27 January 2024.[9] The top five from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Guinea and Tunisia.[10][11]
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Egypt | |
| Algeria | |
| Tunisia | |
| 4 | Cape Verde |
| 5 | Guinea |
| 6 | DR Congo |
| 7 | Morocco |
| 8 | Angola |
| 9 | Nigeria |
| 10 | Cameroon |
| 11 | Gabon |
| 12 | Libya |
| 13 | Congo |
| 14 | Rwanda |
| 15 | Kenya |
| 16 | Zambia |
| Team qualified for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship |
Europe
The three highest ranked non-qualified teams secure a ticket to the world championship. Since Denmark (who finished second) already qualified as a co-host, fourth placed Germany took the place.
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| France | |
| Denmark | |
| Sweden | |
| 4 | Germany |
| 5 | Hungary |
| 6 | Slovenia |
| 7 | Portugal |
| 8 | Austria |
| 9 | Norway |
| 10 | Iceland |
| 11 | Croatia |
| 12 | Netherlands |
| 13 | Spain |
| 14 | Montenegro |
| 15 | Czech Republic |
| 16 | Poland |
| 17 | North Macedonia |
| 18 | Georgia |
| 19 | Serbia |
| 20 | Faroe Islands |
| 21 | Switzerland |
| 22 | Romania |
| 23 | Greece |
| 24 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Team qualified for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship | |
| Team qualified for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship as co-host |
European qualification
From November 2023 to May 2024, the EHF organised a separate qualification for 11 places.
Bracket
The draw took place on 27 January 2024 in Cologne.[12][13]
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithuania | 49–69 | Hungary | 26–33 | 23–36 |
| Slovenia | 60–60 4–1 (p) |
Switzerland | 26–27 | 34–33 |
| Portugal | 55–45 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 29–19 | 26–26 |
| Georgia | 56–64 | Austria | 25–27 | 31–37 |
| Iceland | 87–49 | Estonia | 50–25 | 37–24 |
| Greece | 56–58 | Netherlands | 31–27 | 25–31 |
| Spain | 54–53 | Serbia | 32–28 | 22–25 |
| Italy | 66–58 | Montenegro | 32–26 | 34–32 |
| Romania | 51–59 | Czech Republic | 31–30 | 20–29 |
| Poland | 61–54 | Slovakia | 28–29 | 33–25 |
| Faroe Islands | 60–61 | North Macedonia | 34–27 | 26–34 |
North America and Caribbean
The championship will be held from 6 to 12 May 2024 in Mexico where the winner secures the regional ticket.[14] Had the United States won, second place would've taken the ticket. Cuba were victorious and qualified for the World Championship.[15]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuba | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 175 | 110 | +65 | 10 | Final |
| 2 | Mexico (H) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 138 | 132 | +6 | 6[lower-alpha 1] | |
| 3 | Greenland | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 143 | 137 | +6 | 6[lower-alpha 1] | Third place match |
| 4 | United States | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 143 | 150 | −7 | 6[lower-alpha 1] | |
| 5 | Puerto Rico | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 111 | 146 | −35 | 2 | Fifth place match |
| 6 | Canada | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 123 | 158 | −35 | 0 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
Notes:
- Mexico 2 Pts, +8 GD; Greenland 2 Pts, –1 GD; United States 2 Pts, –7 GD
Final
| 12 May 2024 17:00 |
Cuba | 36–21 | Mexico | Mexico City Attendance: 279 Referees: Estrada, Pineda (COL) |
| Rodríguez 8 | (18–10) | Flores 4 | ||
| 6× | Report | 1× 2× |
South and Central America
Six teams competed in the South and Central American Championship, held at the La Casa del Handball Argentino in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 16 to 20 January 2024.[16] The top three from the championship qualified. Brazil, Argentina and Chile would finish in top three and advance to the world championship.[17][18] Brazil were the first country from any region to qualify on 18 January 2024.[19]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 207 | 103 | +104 | 10 | 2025 World Championship | |
| Argentina (H) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 173 | 101 | +72 | 7[lower-alpha 1] | ||
| Chile | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 151 | 107 | +44 | 7[lower-alpha 1] | ||
| 4 | Paraguay | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 114 | 188 | −74 | 4 | |
| 5 | Uruguay | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 113 | 151 | −38 | 2 | |
| 6 | Costa Rica | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 87 | 195 | −108 | 0 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts
Notes:
- Argentina 27–27 Chile
Wildcards
After no Oceanian team achieved a top 5 finish in the Asian Championship, two wildcards were given out by the IHF. United States was given the first wildcard on 18 October 2018, in order to prepare them for the 2028 Summer Olympics which they are hosting.[2][3] Regarding the second wildcard, 12 nations reportedly applied, with 2 of the applicants unknown.[20]
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- China
- Faroe Islands
- Georgia
- Greece
- Montenegro[21]
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia[22]
- Switzerland
- Turkey
On 23 May 2024, Switzerland was given the second wildcard by the IHF due to multiple reasons: their sporting merit, their commercial reach, their project and the IHF's TV partner asked the Swiss to be picked.[23][24][25] Prior to their selection, Switzerland's coach, Andy Schmid, stated that after their narrow penalty shootout loss to Slovenia, The Swiss' performance merited a wildcard.[26][27]
Notes
- All hosting federations are automatically entitled to take part in the World Championship. If there is more than one organiser from the same continental confederation, the number of compulsory places of the respective confederation shall be reduced accordingly. If there is more than one organiser and the organisers are not from the same confederation, the IHF Council shall decide about the reduction of the compulsory places, considering only the compulsory places of the confederations involved.
- The reigning world champion automatically qualifies for the next World Championship and, as a rule, is placed first in the first performance row. In case the reigning world champion is also hosting the next World Championship, the confederation of the reigning world champion obtains one additional performance place.
- The continental confederation of Oceania does not have a direct compulsory place for a confederational qualification event, therefore, the Oceanian confederation is invited to participate in the Asian qualification events. The compulsory place is awarded to Oceania if the representative from Oceania is ranked 5th or higher in the Asian qualification. If Oceania fails to rank 5th or does not participate, the IHF Council will award this place as a free wild card.
- If the teams representing Oceania fail to finish in the top 5 of the Asian Championship or does not participate, the IHF Council will change Oceania's spot into a second wild card.
- There are ways of qualifying from Europe, via the European Championship or European qualification
- The Asian Championship acts as qualification for the Oceanian teams.
- New Zealand, who is the only Oceanian who entered, participates in the Asian Champiponship to decides their qualification.
- Denmark won the 2023 World Championship, but since they already qualified as a co-host, no one took the spot.
- If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships would have finished within the top 5, they would have qualified for the World Championships. As they finished placed sixth or lower, the place was transferred into a second wildcard spot.
- To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council awarded the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships.[2][3]
References
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