The 2025

IHF World Men's Handball Championship The IHF Men's Handball World Championship has been organized indoor by the International Handball Federation since 1938. In the twenty-nine tournaments held, twelve national teams have won the title. France is the most successful team with si ...

was the 29th such event hosted by the

International Handball Federation The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball C ...

. It was held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway from 14 January to 2 February 2025. This edition marked the first time the

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

was held in three countries. Co-host

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

were the triple defending champions, having won the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

editions, and successfully defended their title by defeating co-host

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

32–26 in the final. In doing so, Denmark became the first men's national handball team to win four consecutive world titles.

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

beat

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

to win the bronze medals, while third co-host

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

finished 10th. Denmark beat the record for the highest average win margin after 7 matches at a World Championship played with +13.4 goals. They also extended their record of most World Championship matches in a row without defeat to 31.

Bidding process

On 11 October 2018, five nations expressed interest in hosting the tournament. * *// * The deadline elapsed on 25 September 2019. Switzerland became a solo bid, while Croatia took their place in the triple bid. Serbia withdrew their bid, while Hungary filed both an application and deferment for a later tournament. These were the applicants: *// * (withdrew) * (withdrew) Shortly before the vote, Hungary and Switzerland both withdrew, leaving the bid of Croatia, Denmark and Norway unopposed. Croatia, Denmark and Norway were chosen as the hosts on 28 February 2020 at the IHF Council meeting in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. This edition marks the first time Norway hosts the World Men's Handball Championship, the second for Croatia, and the third for Denmark.

Venues

The bid contained 11 cities:

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

Poreč Poreč (; known also by several alternative names) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, which was designated a UN ...

and

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

in Croatia;

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

in Denmark; and

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

and

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

in Norway; with the opening match and final taking place in Bærum. On 25 January 2024, Denmark announced that the Jyske Bank Boxen would be their only venue for the competition. Then, two days later, Norway announced the

Telenor Arena Unity Arena, previously known as Telenor Arena and Fornebu Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located at Fornebu in Bærum, outside Oslo, Norway. It serves as a venue for a variety of events, including concerts, exhibitions, action shows, ...

would be their only venue for the tournament, after negotiations with

fell through due to financial reasons. On 8 April 2024, the IHF announced the venues, with

and

. being confirmed as hosts cities. The opening game will be in

and the final will be in

. During the preparations for the tournament, the

was renamed the Unity Arena for the tournament.

Qualification

The World Championship hosts were directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. Since there were three organisers, all from Europe, the number of compulsory places for Europe was reduced by two: 2 instead of default 4. The number of compulsory places awarded to other continental confederation remained unchanged. In regards to the 12 performance spots, and based on the results of the 2023 Men's World Championship,

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

received 11 more spots, while

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

took 1. The slot allocation was as follows: *

AHF AHF may refer to: *Asian Handball Federation, a Continental Sports Federation of handball *Asian Hockey Federation, a Continental Sports Federation of field hockey *AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit provider of HIV prevention services, testin ...

(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 Qualifying occurred between February 2023 and June 2024. Each region's continental championships acted as world championship qualification, although Europe also has its own qualification process. With the exception of

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, who are banned of the IHF due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, all remaining IHF member associations were eligible to enter qualification. In total, 83 nations have entered the continental championships and European qualifiers, which act as world championship qualification.

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

will make their debut at the championship. Of the returnees,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

made their second appearance ever and first since

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

are returning for the first time since the

2009 World Men's Handball Championship The 2009 World Men's Handball Championship was the 21st edition of the tournament that took place in Croatia from 16 January to 1 February, in the cities of Split, Zadar, Osijek, Varaždin, Poreč, Zagreb and Pula. Croatia was selected from a gr ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

made the championship after ten years, while

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

qualified after missing out on

. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

made back to back appearances for the first time in 30 years.

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

qualified on merit for the first time ever.

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

all failed to make this edition after participating in

. After making their debut in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

failed to qualify.

(4) * * * * CAHB (5) * * * * * EHF (17+1) * * (co-host) * * (co-host) * * * * * * * * (co-host) * * * * * * ^WC NACHC (1+1) * * ^WC OCHF (0) * ''None qualified'' SCAHC (3) * * *

Wildcards

After no Oceanian team achieved a top 5 finish in the Asian Championship, two wildcards were given out by the IHF. * * As the host country of the

2028 Summer Olympics The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA 28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles ...

, the first wildcard was given to

on 18 October 2018. Regarding the second wildcard, 12 non-classificated nations reportedly applied. On 23 May 2024, it was announced that the second wildcard was given to Switzerland due to multiple reasons: their sporting merit, their commercial reach, their sporting project and also due to the fact that the proposal made by the Swiss broadcast partner was the most commercially interesting for the IHF. Prior to their selection, Switzerland's coach, Andy Schmid, stated that after their narrow penalty shootout loss to

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, the Swiss' performance merited a wildcard.

Draw

The draw took place at 19:30 CET in

, Croatia on 29 May 2024 at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall. Originally scheduled for the 1 June, it was changed a few weeks later to 29 May. The guests for the draw were Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanović, head coach of the Croatian national team,

Dagur Sigurðsson Dagur Sigurðsson (born 3 April 1973) is an Icelandic handball coach and former player who is currently the head coach of the Croatia men's national handball team, Croatian men's national team. He spent his career playing for clubs in Iceland, ...

, Norwegian national team player, Alexander Blonz and former Danish international player, Morten Stig Christensen, who all assisted the draw.

Seeding

Ahead of the draw, the 32 finalist teams were seeded into four pots according to IHF rankings in May 2024. Although, in regards to the European teams in pots 1 and 2, the 2024 European Championship decided the teams' positions. In addition, five teams were pre-assigned by the three host nations into each of the available vacant groups: Germany in Group A, Austria in Group C, Hungary in Group D, Sweden in Group F and Slovenia in Group G.

Referees

The referee pairs were selected on 14 November 2024. The list was updated on 2 January 2025.

Squads

Preliminary round

The schedule was announced on 8 April 2024. ''All times are local (

UTC+1 +01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time * West Africa Time * Western European Summer Time **Brit ...

).''

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Group D

---- ----

Group E

---- ----

Group F

---- ----

Group G

---- ----

Group H

---- ----

President's Cup

Group I

---- ----

Group II

---- ----

31st place game

29th place game

27th place game

25th place game

Main round

Group I

Results between advancing teams from

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

and

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

were carried over. ---- ----

Group II

Results between advancing teams from

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...

and

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

were carried over. ---- ----

Group III

Results between advancing teams from

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting), a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style, active between 560 and 540 BC. * On ...

and

Group F Group F may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant dif ...

were carried over. ---- ----

Group IV

Results between advancing teams from

Group G Group G may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant dif ...

and Group H were carried over. ---- ----

Final round

Bracket

Quarterfinals

---- ---- ----

Semifinals

----

Third place game

Final

Final ranking and awards

Places 1 to 4 and 25 to 32 were decided by play-off or knock-out. The losers of the quarter finals were ranked 5th to 8th according to the places in the main round, points gained and goal difference. Teams finishing third in the main round were ranked 9th to 12th, teams finishing fourth in the main round were ranked 13th to 16th, teams finishing fifth in the main round were ranked 17th to 20th and teams ranked sixth were ranked 21st to 24th. In case of a tie in points gained, the goal difference of the main round was taken into account, then number of goals scored. If teams were still equal, number of points gained in the preliminary round was considered followed by the goal difference and then number of goals scored in the preliminary round.

Final ranking

All-star Team

The All-star Team was announced on 2 February 2025.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Top goalkeepers

Broadcasters

Source:

Preparations

Croatian host city,

signed their hosting contract on 26 June 2024. In November 2024, host city

also signed their contract. In December 2024, Croatian Handball Federation,

Varaždin County Varaždin County () is a county in Hrvatsko Zagorje. It is named after its county seat, the city of Varaždin. Geography The county contains the city of Varaždin, the towns of: Ivanec, Ludbreg, Lepoglava, Novi Marof and Varaždinske Top ...

Međimurje County Međimurje County (; ; ) is a triangle-shaped Counties of Croatia, county in the northernmost part of Croatia, roughly corresponding to the historical and geographical region of Međimurje (region), Međimurje. It is the smallest Croatian count ...

and

Čakovec Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...

signed a joint co-hosting contract. On 22 October 2024, the official ball was released. On 22 November 2024, the Norwegian government allotted 10 million

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

for the tournament.

Tickets

The first phase of ticket sales started on 15 March 2024 in

, while the sales started on 8 April 2024 in

for people who made a federation account. General sales in Denmark commenced on 12 April 2024. Norway started their ticket sales on 12 April 2024. Another round of sales in Croatia started on 5 June 2024.

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteIHF website
{{Portal bar, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Sports

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

World Men's Handball Championship The IHF Men's Handball World Championship has been organized indoor by the International Handball Federation since 1938. In the twenty-nine tournaments held, twelve national teams have won the title. France is the most successful team with six ...

International handball competitions hosted by Croatia International handball competitions hosted by Denmark International handball competitions hosted by Norway

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