The 2025

IHF World Women's Handball Championship The IHF Women's Handball World Championship has been organized by the International Handball Federation since 1957. European teams have won every time except 1995 where South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is ...

will be 27th edition of the championship to be jointly hosted by Germany and the Netherlands under the aegis of

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 ...

(IHF) from 26 November to 14 December 2025. It will be fourth time in history that the championship is jointly hosted. "Catch the Dream" will be the official motto of the competition.

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 ...

are the defending world champions, having won the 2023 edition.

Bidding process

On 11 October 2018, the IHF announced the bidders for the championship. * * However, for unknown reasons, both bids quietly withdrew. On 25 September 2019, the next bids were as follows: * and On 28 February 2020, the tournament was awarded to Germany and Netherlands unopposed at its meeting held 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.https://www.handball.no/globalassets/nhf-sentralt/om-oss/organisasjon/protokoller/ehf-og-ihf/ihf-council/20200330ihf-minutes-council-27-2802.pdf

Venues

Germany

On 16 May 2022, the German Handball Association (DHB) presented the German venues:

Netherlands

On 5 April 2023 the

Netherlands Handball Association The Netherlands Handball Association () (NHV) is the national Handball association in Netherlands. NHV organizes team handball within Dutch and represents the Dutch handball internationally. The Association is a member of the International Handbal ...

presented the Dutch venues:

Qualification

The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. Since there are two organisers, all from Europe, the number of compulsory places for Europe is reduced by one: 3 instead of default 4. The number of compulsory places awarded to other continental confederation remains unchanged. In regards to the 12 performance spots, and based on the results of the 2023 Women'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 ...

receives 11 more spots, while South and Central America takes 1. The slot allocation is 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 The African Handball Confederation (acronym CAHB, referring to ) is the administrative and controlling body for African team handball. Founded on 15 January 1973 after the 2nd All-Africa Games in Lagos (Nigeria), it represents the national handb ...

(Africa): 4 slots * EHF (Europe): 17 slots (including the two co-hosts and defending champion) * NACHC (North America and the Caribbean): 1 slot * OCHF (Oceania): 0 slots * SCAHC (South and Central America): 4 slots *Wildcards: 2 slots Qualifying occurred between October 2024 and April 2025. 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.

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 ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

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 ...

will make their debut at the championship, with the Faroe Islands becoming the smallest nation to ever qualify, overtaking

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. Of the returnees, after receiving a wildcard,

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 ...

return for the first time since

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 ...

came back after their last appearance was in

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 ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, return after missing out on

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 ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

advanced to three consecutive finals for the first time.

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

qualified for two consecutive finals for the first time. Originally,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

failed to qualify after finishing outside the top four at the Asian Championship, however, they were belatedly given a wildcard, continuing run of making every world championship since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

. Notable absentees include

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 ...

whose last failure to qualify was

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, while

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and Congo both failed to qualify having participated at the previous two championships. 2023 participants,

, couldn't qualify after failing to enter the 2025 Nor.Ca. Women's Handball Championship for financial reasons.

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

failed to qualify after taking part in

(4+1) * ^WC * * * *

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

Wildcards

After no Oceanian team achieved a top 5 finish in the

Asian Championship An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics and wate ...

, two wildcards were given out by the IHF. * * On 31 March 2025, China was given the first wildcard due to good performances and country's position, making it a big market for the sport. 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 ...

were provisionally given a wildcard, so the team could use this opportunity to prepare for 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 ...

which they will be hosting. However, their lack of progress led the IHF to choose a different wildcard. Later on, four countries applied. After their play off loss to

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 ...

, Slovenia's coach, Dragan Adžić, stated that his team deserved the last wildcard. On 12 May 2025, Croatia was given the second wildcard.

Qualified teams

Draw

The draw took place at 18:00

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

, Netherlands on 22 May 2025 at the Noordbrabants Museum. The guests for the draw were former German goalkeeper, Clara Woltering, and Dutch internationals,

Debbie Bont Debbie Bont (born 9 December 1990) is a Dutch handball former player and current coach. Since July 2024 she has been the coach at the Dutch team Garage Kil/Volendam. As a player, she featured in the Dutch national team. In 2019 she became a Wor ...

, and former captain, Danick Snelder.

Team allocation

In addition, six teams were pre-assigned by the three host nations into each of the available vacant groups:

Seeding

The seeding was announced on 14 May 2025.

Preliminary round

The schedule was announced on 21 November 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

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Group F

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Group G

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Group H

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Presidents Cup

Group I

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Group II

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31st place game

29th place game

27th place game

25th place game

Main round

All points obtained in the preliminary round against teams that advance as well are carried over.

Group I

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Group II

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Group III

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Group IV

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Final round

Bracket

Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

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Third place game

Final

Final ranking

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

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Handball, World Championship, Women, 2025

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