| Svjetsko prvenstvo u rukometu 2025. (in Croatian) Verdensmesterskabet i håndbold for mænd 2025 (in Danish) Verdensmesterskapet i håndball for menn 2025 (in Norwegian) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host countries |  Croatia Denmark Norway |
| Venue(s) | 11 (in 11 host cities) |
| Dates | 14 January–2 February |
| Teams | 32 (from 5 confederations) |
The 2025 IHF World Men's Handball Championship, will be the 29th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. It will be held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway from 14 January to 2 February January 2025.[1]
Denmark are the triple defending world champions, having won the 2019, 2021 and 2023 editions.
Bidding process
Five nations expressed interest in hosting the tournament. The awarding of the event took place at the IHF Council meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on 28 February 2020.[2][3] Croatia, Denmark and Norway were chosen as the hosts. This will be the second time Croatia will host the World Men's Handball Championship, the third for Denmark, and the first for Norway.
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Venues
The tournament is expected to take place in 11 cities: Zagreb, Split, Varaždin, Poreč and Dubrovnik in Croatia; Copenhagen and Herning in Denmark; and Trondheim, Stavanger, Drammen and Oslo in Norway. The opening and final will take place in Oslo.[4]
| Oslo, Norway | Drammen, Norway | Trondheim, Norway | Stavanger, Norway | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telenor Arena Capacity: 15,000 | New Drammen Arena Capacity: 12,000 | Trondheim Spektrum Capacity: 8,960 | Stavanger Idrettshall Capacity: 4,100 | |
 |  |  |  | |
| Herning, Denmark | Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| Jyske Bank Boxen Capacity: 12,500 | Royal Arena Capacity: 13,000 | |||
 | .jpg.webp) | |||
| Zagreb, Croatia | Split, Croatia | Varaždin, Croatia | Dubrovnik, Croatia | Poreč, Croatia |
| Arena Zagreb Capacity: 15,200 | Spaladium Arena Capacity: 11,000 | Varaždin Arena Capacity: 5,200 | New Dubrovnik Arena Capacity: 5,200 | Žatika Sport Centre Capacity: 3,700 |
 |  |  | | |
Qualification
Qualification system will still depend on number of compulsory and performance places, as for 2023 World Championship. The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. Since there are three organisers, all from Europe, the number of compulsory places for Europe is reduced by two: 2 instead of default 4. The number of compulsory places awarded to other continental confederation keeps unchanged and is divided as follows: four places each for Asia and Africa, three places for the South and Central America zone and one place for the North America and Caribbean zone.[5] One additional place is available for Oceania, but only when that region's national team ranks fifth or higher at the Asian Championship. If no Oceania team places among the top five at the Asian Championship, the IHF will award an additional wild card. In addition, there will be 12 performance places for the continental confederations, which are based on the teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding World Championship. According to the new qualification system and taking into consideration the results of the 2023 Men's World Championship, the 32 places are distributed as follows:
| Distribution of places (following current IHF rules[5]) | Vacancies | Details | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organisers 1 | 3 | ||
| Reigning world champion 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 1 | 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 | 1 3 | Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card | |
| Wild card 4 | 1 | ||
| Total | 32 |
- 1All 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.
- 2The 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.
- 3The compulsory place for Oceania is subject to fulfilling certain conditions. The continental confederation of Oceania does not have a direct compulsory place for a confederational qualification event. The confederation of Oceania 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.
- 4The wild card shall be awarded by the IHF Council.
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nations | 28 February 2020 |  Cairo |
3 | Croatia Denmark Norway |
| 2023 World Championship | 29 January 2023 |  Poland Sweden |
1 |  France |
| 2024 European Men's Handball Championship | 10–28 January 2024 |  Germany |
2 | |
| 2024 Asian Men's Handball Championship | 11–25 January 2024 |  Bahrain |
4 | |
| 2024 African Men's Handball Championship | 17–27 January 2024 | Egypt |
5 | |
| 2024 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship | 16–20 January 2024 |  Argentina |
3 | |
| 2024 Nor.Ca. Men's Handball Championship | TBD | TBD | 1 | |
| European qualification | 1 November 2023 – 2024 | Various | 11 | |
| Oceania | 0[1] | |||
| Wild card | 18 October 2018 |  Doha |
2[2] |  United States |
^ 1. 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 to the Wild Card spot.
^ 2. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council awarded the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships.[6][7]
Qualified teams
| Country | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | Co-host | 28 February 2020 | 15 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) |
| Denmark | Co-host | 28 February 2020 | 25 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) |
| Norway | Co-host | 28 February 2020 | 17 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) |
| United States | Wild card | 18 October 2018 | 7 (1964, 1970, 1974, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2023) |
| France | Finalist at 2023 World Championship | 27 January 2023 | 24 (1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1978, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) |
- 1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host country for that year.
Seeding
Following ranking of previous World Championship, and following IHF rules.[5]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold Title/Co-Host Denmark Finalist 2023 France Europe 1 or Co-Host Europe 2 or Co-Host Europe 3 or Co-Host Europe 4 or Co-Host Europe 5 or Co-Host Africa 1 |
Europe 6 or Co-Host Europe 7 or Co-Host Europe 8 or Co-Host Europe 9 or Co-Host Europe 10 or Co-Host Europe 11 or Co-Host Europe 12 or Co-Host Europe 13 or Co-Host |
Asia 1 South America 1 Europe 14 South America 2 North America 1 Europe 15 Asia 2 Africa 2 |
Asia 3 Africa 3 South America 3 Asia 4 Africa 4 Africa 5 Oceania or Wild card 1 Wild card 1 or 2 United States |
References
- ↑ "IHF Council awards events up to 2027". ihf.info. 28 February 2020.
- ↑ "World Championships 2025 and 2027". ihf.info. 25 September 2019.
- ↑ "Norway, Croatia and Denmark chase the handball World Cup in 2025". time24.news. 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
- ↑ "Svjetsko prvenstvo u rukometu 2025. igrat će se u Hrvatskoj!". 24sata.hr (in Croatian). 28 February 2020.
- 1 2 3 "V. Regulations for IHF Competitions (Indoor Handball)" (PDF). International Handball Federation. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
- ↑ "Strategic plan | USA" (PDF). IHF.
- ↑ "Council Meeting No. 3" (PDF). Doha, Qatar: IHF. 18 October 2018. pp. 8–9.