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2027 World Men's Handball Championship qualification

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2027 World Men's Handball Championship qualification
Tournament details
Dates29 October 2025 – 17 May 2026
Teams78 (from 6 confederations)
← 2025
2029 →

The 2027 World Men's Handball Championship qualification decided who qualified for the 2027 World Men's Handball Championship in Germany. Qualifying occurred between October 2025 and May 2026. The championship will feature 32 teams for the fourth time. The first game in qualification was played between Cyprus and Turkey on 29 October 2025.

Qualified teams

[edit]
  Team qualified
  Team failed to qualify
  Team withdrew or suspended
  Did not enter
Team Qualification method Date of qualification Appearance(s) Previous best performance[A]
Total First Last Streak
 Germany Host nation 28 January 2020 29th[B] 1938 2025 15 Champions (1938, 1978, 2007)
 Denmark Defending champions 2 February 2025 27th 13 Champions (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025)
 Brazil Top four at
2026 South and Central American Championship		 21 January 2026 18th 1958 17 Seventh place (2025)
 Argentina 16th 1997 16 Eleventh place (2021)
 Chile 24 January 2026 9th 2011 9 16th place (2019)
 Uruguay 3rd 2021 2023 1 24th place (2021)
 Japan Semifinalist at 2026 Asian Championship 25 January 2026 17th 1961 2025 2 Tenth place (1970)
 Qatar 11th 2003 8 Runners-up (2015)
 Bahrain 7th 2011 6 16th place (2023)
 Kuwait 10th 1982 2 15th place (1982)
 Egypt Top five at 2026 African Championship 19th 1964 18 Fourth place (2001)
 Cape Verde 4th 2021 4 23rd place (2023, 2025)
 Algeria 26 January 2026 18th 1974 4 13th place (2001)
 Tunisia 18th 1967 17 Fourth place (2005)
 Croatia Top six at 2026 European Championship 28 January 2026 17th 1995 17 Champions (2003)
 Iceland 24th 1958 9 Fifth place (1997)
 Sweden 28th 1938 7 Champions (1954, 1958, 1990, 1999)
 Portugal 7th 1997 4 Fourth place (2025)
 Angola Top five at 2026 African Championship 30 January 2026 6th 2005 2021 1 20th place (2005)
 Norway European playoff winner 16 May 2026 19th 1958 2025 6 Runners-up (2017, 2019)
 Faroe Islands Debut
 Spain 25th 1958 2025 23 Champions (2005, 2013)
 United States Winner of the 2026 Nor.Ca. Championship 16 May 2026 9th 1964 2 16th place (1964, 1970, 1974, 1993)
 Greece European playoff winner 17 May 2026 2nd 2005 2005 1 Sixth place (2005)
 Poland 19th 1958 2025 6 Runners-up (2007)
 France 26th 1954 19 Champions (1995, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017)
 Slovenia 12th 1993 4 Third place (2017)
 Serbia 21th 1964 2023 1 Champions (1986)[C]
 Italy 3rd 1997 2025 2 16th place (2025)
 North Macedonia 10th 1999 8 Ninth place (2015)
 Saudi Arabia Wildcards 9 June 2026 11th 1997 2023 1 19th place (2003, 2013)
 Turkey 1st Debut

Slot allocation

[edit]

The slot allocation is as follows:

  • AHF (Asia): 4 slots
  • CAHB (Africa): 5 slots
  • EHF (Europe): 10 slots (including hosts Germany)
  • NACHC (North America and the Caribbean): 1 slot
  • OCHF (Oceania): 0 slots
  • SCAHC (South and Central America): 4 slots
  • Wildcards: 2 slots

Summary

[edit]

Summary of qualification process

[edit]

The World Championship host 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 10 more spots, while Africa and South and Central America takes 1.

Map of each IHF federation.
Detailed summary of 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
AHF4+114[H]94+126.67%15 January 202629 January 2026
CAHB51611531.25%21 January 202631 January 2026
EHF[I]14+1+1362014+1+144.4%29 October 202517 May 2026
NACHC143125%12 May 202616 May 2026
OCHF[J]0 or 11[K]106.25%11 January 202425 January 2024
SCAHC462467%19 January 202624 January 2026
Total29784627+1+229 October 202516 May 2026

Summary of qualified teams

[edit]
Competition Dates Host Vacancies Qualified
Host nations 28 February 2020 Egypt Cairo 1  Germany
2025 World Championship 14 January –
2 February 2025		  Croatia
 Denmark
 Norway		 1  Denmark
2026 Asian Men's Handball Championship 15–29 January 2026  Kuwait 4  Bahrain
 Japan
 Kuwait
 Qatar
2026 European Men's Handball Championship 15 January –
1 February 2026		  Denmark
 Norway
 Sweden		 4  Croatia
 Iceland
 Portugal
 Sweden
2026 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship 19–24 January 2026  Paraguay 4  Argentina
 Brazil
 Chile
 Uruguay
2026 African Men's Handball Championship 21–31 January 2026  Rwanda 5  Algeria
 Angola
 Cape Verde
 Egypt
 Tunisia
2026 Nor.Ca. Men's Handball Championship 12–16 May 2026  United States 1  United States
European qualification 29 October 2025 –
17 May 2026		 Various 10  France
 Faroe Islands
 Greece
 Italy
 North Macedonia
 Norway
 Poland
 Serbia
 Slovenia
 Spain
Oceania —[1]
Wild card 18 October 2018 Qatar Doha 2[2]  Saudi Arabia
 Turkey

^1. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finish within the top 5, they would have qualified for the World Championships. As they finished sixth or lower, the place was transferred to the wild card spot.

^2. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council will award the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships, if they reach a certain performance level.[2][3]

World Championship

[edit]

World champion directly qualified for 2025 edition. Denmark won the 2025 World Championship and became the first team to qualify.

Rank[4] Team
1st place, gold medalist(s) Denmark
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Croatia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) France
4 Portugal
5 Egypt
6 Germany
7 Brazil
8 Hungary
9 Iceland
10 Norway
11  Switzerland
12 Netherlands
13 Slovenia
14 Sweden
15 North Macedonia
16 Italy
17 Austria
18 Spain
19 Czech Republic
20 Argentina
21 Qatar
22 Tunisia
23 Cape Verde
24 Chile
25 Poland
26 United States
27 Kuwait
28 Japan
29 Bahrain
30 Algeria
31 Guinea
32 Cuba

Asia

[edit]

Sixteen teams competed in the Asian Championship, held in Sabah Al-Salem, Kuwait, from 15 to 29 January 2026.[5] The top 4 reached the world championship. Since the Oceanian representative, Australia, 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.

Group I Group II

Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Japan 3 5
2  Kuwait (H) 3 4
3  South Korea 3 3
4  Iraq 3 0
Source: IHF
(H) Hosts

Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Qatar 3 4
2  Bahrain 3 4
3  Saudi Arabia 3 4
4  United Arab Emirates 3 0
Source: IHF

Bracket

[edit]
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 January
 
 
 Japan25
 
29 January
 
 Bahrain35
 
 Bahrain (ET)29
 
27 January
 
 Qatar26
 
 Qatar (ET)27
 
 
 Kuwait26
 
Third place
 
 
29 January
 
 
 Japan32
 
 
 Kuwait33

Final ranking

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1  Bahrain 8 7 0 1 254 190 +64 14 Champions and qualified for 2027 World Championship
2  Qatar 7 4 0 3 196 178 +18 8 Runners-up and qualified for 2027 World Championship
3  Kuwait (H) 8 6 0 2 258 189 +69 12 Third place and qualified for 2027 World Championship
4  Japan 8 4 1 3 237 226 +11 9 Fourth place and qualified for 2027 World Championship
5  South Korea 6 4 1 1 178 170 +8 9 Fifth place game
6  Saudi Arabia 7 5 0 2 205 174 +31 10
7  Iraq 7 3 0 4 184 207 −23 6 Seventh place game
8  United Arab Emirates 7 2 0 5 196 197 −1 4
9  China 7 5 0 2 215 182 +33 10 Ninth place game
10  Hong Kong 6 2 1 3 162 190 −28 5
11  Jordan 6 2 0 4 132 136 −4 4 Eleventh place game
12  Iran 7 3 0 4 189 143 +46 6
13  Oman 5 1 1 3 127 145 −18 3 Thirteenth place game
14  Australia 7 1 0 6 163 253 −90 2
15  India 6 0 0 6 123 239 −116 0 Fifteenth place
Source: IHF
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

Africa

[edit]

Sixteen teams competed in the African Championship, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 21 to 31 January 2026. The top five from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Egypt and Tunisia.

Group I Group II

Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Egypt 3 6
2  Algeria 3 2
3  Nigeria 3 2
4  Angola 3 2
Source: IHF

Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Tunisia 3 5
2  Cape Verde 3 4
3  Morocco 3 3
4  Guinea 3 0
Source: IHF

Bracket

[edit]
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
29 January
 
 
 Egypt32
 
31 January
 
 Cape Verde26
 
 Egypt37
 
29 January
 
 Tunisia24
 
 Algeria24
 
 
 Tunisia33
 
Third place
 
 
31 January
 
 
 Cape Verde29
 
 
 Algeria23

5–8th place bracket

 
5–8th place semfinalsFifth place
 
      
 
29 January
 
 
 Nigeria30
 
30 January
 
 Guinea28
 
 Nigeria20
 
29 January
 
 Angola25
 
 Angola27
 
 
 Morocco20
 
Seventh place
 
 
30 January
 
 
 Guinea33 (4)
 
 
 Morocco (pen)33 (5)

Final ranking

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1  Egypt 7 7 0 0 290 166 +124 14 Champions
2  Tunisia 7 5 1 1 238 183 +55 11 Runners-up
3  Cape Verde 7 5 0 2 224 197 +27 10 Third place
4  Algeria 7 3 0 4 208 197 +11 6 Fourth place
5  Angola 7 5 0 2 199 174 +25 10 Fifth place game
6  Nigeria 7 4 0 3 187 189 −2 8
7  Morocco 7 4 1 2 244 211 +33 9 Seventh place game
8  Guinea 7 2 0 5 201 231 −30 4
9  Gabon 7 5 0 2 216 175 +41 10 Ninth place game
10  Cameroon 7 4 0 3 194 194 0 8
11  Congo 7 3 1 3 206 204 +2 7 Eleventh place game
12  Rwanda (H) 7 3 0 4 202 210 −8 6
13  Benin 7 2 1 4 203 226 −23 5 Thirteenth place game
14  Zambia 7 1 0 6 156 245 −89 2
15  Kenya 7 1 0 6 185 239 −54 2 Fifteenth place game
16  Uganda 7 0 0 7 155 267 −112 0
Source: IHF
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

Europe

[edit]

24 teams competed in the European Championship, Held in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, from 15 January to 1 February 2026. The top four from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Croatia, Iceland, Portugal and Sweden. Denmark and Germany qualified automatically as the defending champions and hosts, respectively.

Group I Group II

Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Denmark (H) 5 8
2  Germany 5 8
3  Portugal 5 5
4  France 5 4
5  Norway (H) 5 3
6  Spain 5 2
Source: EHF
(H) Hosts

Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1  Croatia 5 8
2  Iceland 5 7
3  Sweden (H) 5 7
4  Slovenia 5 4
5  Hungary 5 2
6   Switzerland 5 2
Source: EHF
(H) Hosts

Bracket

[edit]
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
30 January
 
 
 Denmark31
 
1 February
 
 Iceland28
 
 Denmark34
 
30 January
 
 Germany27
 
 Croatia28
 
 
 Germany31
 
Third place
 
 
1 February
 
 
 Iceland33
 
 
 Croatia34

European qualification

[edit]

From October 2025 to May 2026, the EHF organised a separate qualification for 10 places.

Bracket

[edit]

The draw took place on 31 January 2026 in Herning.[6][7]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Slovakia  47–69  North Macedonia 24–31 23–38
Bosnia and Herzegovina  50–57  Faroe Islands 22–24 28–33
Czech Republic  57–73  France 26–37 31–36
Switzerland  63–67  Italy 32–29 31–38
Greece  67–60  Netherlands 29–27 38–33
Serbia  61–60  Hungary 31–29 30–31
Spain  68–56  Israel 32–27 36–29
Montenegro  57–60  Slovenia 28–29 29–31
Norway  80–60  Turkey 43–30 37–30
Austria  55–56  Poland 25–26 30–30

North America and Caribbean

[edit]

The championship was held from 12 to 16 May 2024 in Bettendorf, United States where the winner secures the regional ticket. USA were victorious and qualified for the World Championship.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United States (H) 3 3 0 0 100 68 +32 6 Final
2  Greenland 3 2 0 1 99 79 +20 4
3  Canada 3 1 0 2 60 93 −33 2 Third place match
4  Mexico 3 0 0 3 71 90 −19 0
Source: IHF
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

Final

[edit]
16 May 2026
15:45		 United States  32–18  Greenland TBK Bank Sports Complex, Bettendorf
Attendance: 500
Referees: Bíró, Kiss (HUN)
Hueter 6 (13–10) Høegh, Jensen 3
 2×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 1×Yellow card 2×number 2 in light blue rounded square


South and Central America

[edit]

Six teams in the South and Central American Championship, Held at the SND Arena in Asunción, Paraguay, from 19 to 24 January 2026.[8] The top four from the championship qualified. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay would finish in top four and advance to the world championship.[9]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Argentina 5 5 0 0 192 98 +94 10 2027 World Championship
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Brazil 5 4 0 1 198 104 +94 8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Chile 5 3 0 2 160 134 +26 6
4  Uruguay 5 2 0 3 131 149 −18 4
5  Paraguay (H) 5 1 0 4 131 181 −50 2
6  Peru 5 0 0 5 90 236 −146 0
Source: IHF
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

Wildcards

[edit]

After no Oceanian team achieved a top 5 finish in the Asian Championship, two wildcards were given out. The IHF received 13 applications. Below are the confirmed applicants.

On 9 June 2026, the IHF decided to award the wildcards spots to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.[10] Both sides were awarded the wildcards based off their "broader contribution of the national federations to the growth and visibility of the sport, as well as focusing on the development of handball throughout the globe".[11]

Quotes

[edit]

"This success is a strong message that Turkish handball gives to the world. We are proud and happy to experience another first in the history of Turkish handball. The development we have made from the lower age categories to the A national teams and the successful results we have achieved in international organizations are now clearly seen by the world handball public. The fact that we have the right to directly participate in the World Championship is the most concrete indicator of this."

— Mesut Çebi, president of the Turkish Handball Federation.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.
  2. ↑ From both German teams only East Germany was qualified in 1990.
  3. ↑ Included Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro results.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Excluding Oceanian representative Australia.
  9. ↑ There are two ways of qualifying from Europe, via the European Championship or European qualification
  10. ↑ The Asian Championship acts as qualification for the Oceanian teams.
  11. ↑ Australia, who is the only Oceanian who entered, participates in the Asian Championship to decides their qualification.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "V. Regulations for IHF Competitions (Indoor Handball)" (PDF). International Handball Federation. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "Strategic plan | USA" (PDF). IHF.
  3. ↑ "Council Meeting No. 3" (PDF). Doha, Qatar: IHF. 18 October 2018. pp. 8–9.
  4. ↑ "Final ranking" (PDF). ihf.info. IHF. 27 January 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2025. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "IHF | 16 teams to compete for the title at the 2024 AHF Asian Men's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.
  6. ↑ "Path to 2027 IHF Men's World Championship becomes clearer". EHF. 22 January 2026.
  7. ↑ "Ties for 2027 Men's World Championship qualification phase 3 set". EHF. 31 January 2026.
  8. ↑ "Handball SCA Senior Asunción 2026". SCAHC. 15 January 2026. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  9. ↑ "Argentina seal continental trophy glorious win over Brazil". ihf.info. 25 January 2026. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
  10. ↑ https://www.ihf.info/media-center/news/turkiye-and-saudi-arabia-complete-2027-ihf-mens-world-championship-entry-list
  11. ↑ https://www.thf.org.tr/#/haber/dunya-sampiyonasinda-biz-de-variz/12089
[edit]
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