2003 World Men's Handball Championship

2003 World Men's Handball Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Portugal
Dates	20 January–2 February
Final positions
Champions	Croatia
Runner-up	Germany
Third place	France
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The 2003 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Portugal from 20 January to 2 February 2003. It was the 18th edition of the World Championship in team handball and Croatia won the championship.

Qualified teams

24 teams were qualified for the first round and dispatched into 4 groups.

Group A : Kuwait, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Tunisia, Yugoslavia.

Group B : Australia, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Qatar.

Group C : Argentina, Croatia, France, Hungary, Russia, Saudi Arabia.

Group D : Algeria, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, Slovenia, Sweden.

First round

The first 4 teams of each group qualify for the second round.

Group A in Guimarães

• Monday, 20 January:
  • Tunisia 29 - 20 Kuwait
  • Yugoslavia 24 - 20 Poland
  • Spain 23 - 18 Morocco

• Tuesday, 21 January:
  • Kuwait 14 - 36 Yugoslavia
  • Morocco 24 - 28 Tunisia
  • Poland 25 - 34 Spain

• Thursday, 23 January:
  • Morocco 22 - 25 Kuwait
  • Tunisia 22 - 24 Poland
  • Spain 22 - 20 Yugoslavia

• Saturday, 25 January:
  • Spain 45 - 18 Kuwait
  • Yugoslavia 28 - 27 Tunisia
  • Poland 35 - 29 Morocco

• Sunday, 26 January:
  • Tunisie 25 - 33 Spain
  • Yugoslavia 34 - 20 Morocco
  • Poland 36 - 21 Kuwait

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Spain	10	5	0	0	157	106	+51
2	Yugoslavia	8	4	0	1	142	103	+39
3	Poland	6	3	0	2	140	130	+10
4	Tunisia	4	2	0	3	131	129	+2
5	Kuwait	2	1	0	4	98	168	-70
6	Morocco	0	0	0	5	113	145	-32

Group B in Viseu

• Monday, 20 January:
  • Germany 40 - 17 Qatar
  • Iceland 55 - 15 Australia
  • Portugal 34 - 19 Greenland

• Tuesday, 21 January:
  • Qatar 21 - 31 Portugal
  • Australia 16 - 46 Germany
  • Greenland 17 -30 Iceland

• Thursday, 23 January:
  • Germany 34 - 20 Greenland
  • Australia 23 - 28 Qatar
  • Iceland 29 - 28 Portugal

• Saturday, 25 January:
  • Portugal 29 - 37 Germany
  • Iceland 42 - 22 Qatar
  • Greenland 21 - 26 Australia

• Sunday, 26 January:
  • Iceland 29 - 34 Germany
  • Greenland 23 - 28 Qatar
  • Portugal 42 - 20 Australia

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Germany	10	5	0	0	191	111	+80
2	Iceland	8	4	0	1	185	116	+69
3	Portugal	6	3	0	2	164	126	+38
4	Qatar	4	2	0	3	116	159	-43
5	Australia	2	1	0	4	100	192	-92
6	Greenland	0	0	0	5	100	152	-52

Group C in Madeira

• Monday, 20 January:
  • Russia 31 - 30 Hungary
  • Croatia 29 - 30 Argentina
  • France 30 - 23 Saudi Arabia

• Tuesday, 21 January:
  • Argentina 26 - 26 Russia
  • Saudi Arabia 18 - 25 Croatia
  • Hungary 24 - 29 France

• Thursday, 23 January:
  • Hungary 36 - 25 Saudi Arabia
  • Russia 26 - 28 Croatia
  • France 35 - 18 Argentina

• Saturday, 25 January:
  • Argentina 23 - 35 Hungary
  • Croatia 23 - 22 France
  • Russia 34 - 17 Saudi Arabia

• Sunday, 26 January:
  • Croatia 30 - 29 Hungary
  • Saudi Arabia 31 - 30 Argentina
  • Russia 15 - 31 France

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Croatia	8	4	0	1	135	125	+10
2	France	8	4	0	1	147	103	+44
3	Russia	5	2	1	2	132	132	0
4	Hungary	4	2	0	3	154	138	+16
5	Argentina	3	1	1	3	127	156	-29
6	Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	4	114	155	-41

Croatia is ranked before France thanks to its victory in the game between those two teams.

Group D in São João da Madeira

• Monday, 20 January:
  • Algeria 22 - 22 Brazil
  • Sweden 29 - 23 Egypt
  • Denmark 33 - 24 Slovenia

• Tuesday, 21 January:
  • Egypt 25 - 25 Algeria
  • Slovenia 29 - 25 Sweden
  • Brazil 24 - 28 Denmark

• Thursday, 23 January:
  • Slovenia 26 - 27 Egypt
  • Sweden 29 - 21 Brazil
  • Denmark 22 - 19 Algeria

• Saturday, 25 January:
  • Algeria 28 - 32 Sweden
  • Brazil 27 - 30 Slovenia
  • Denmark 35 - 26 Egypt

• Sunday, 26 January:
  • Denmark 28 - 32 Sweden
  • Brazil 24 - 31 Egypt
  • Algeria 25 - 35 Slovenia

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Sweden	8	4	0	1	147	129	+18
2	Denmark	8	4	0	1	146	125	+21
3	Slovenia	6	3	0	2	144	137	+7
4	Egypt	5	2	1	2	132	139	-7
5	Algeria	2	0	2	3	119	136	-17
6	Brazil	1	0	1	4	118	140	-22

Sweden is ranked before Denmark thanks to its victory in the game between those two teams.

Second round

The best teams of each group advance to the semifinals. The runners-up qualify for the ranking games for 5th to 8th place.

Group I in Caminha

• Wednesday, 29 January:
  • Iceland 33 - 29 Poland
  • Spain 40 - 15 Qatar

• Thursday, 30 January:
  • Poland 35 - 26 Qatar
  • Spain 32 - 31 Iceland

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Spain	6	3	0	0	106	71	+35
2	Iceland	4	2	0	1	106	83	+23
3	Poland	2	1	0	2	89	93	-4
4	Qatar	0	0	0	3	63	117	-54

Group II in Póvoa de Varzim

• Wednesday, 29 January:
  • Germany 30 - 21 Tunisia
  • Yugoslavia 30 - 28 Portugal

• Thursday, 30 January:
  • Germany 31 - 31 Yugoslavia
  • Portugal 27 - 26 Tunisia

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Germany	5	2	1	0	98	81	+17
2	Yugoslavia	5	2	1	0	89	86	+3
3	Portugal	2	1	0	2	89	93	-3
4	Tunisia	0	0	0	3	74	85	-11

Group III in Rio Maior

• Wednesday, 29 January:
  • Croatia 29 - 23 Egypt
  • Denmark 28 - 35 Russia

• Thursday, 30 January:
  • Russia 29 - 22 Egypt
  • Croatia 33 - 27 Denmark

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Croatia	6	3	0	0	90	76	+14
2	Russia	4	2	0	1	90	78	+12
3	Denmark	2	1	0	2	90	94	-4
4	Egypt	0	0	0	3	71	93	-22

Group IV in Espinho

• Wednesday, 29 January:
  • Sweden 33 - 32 Hungary
  • France 31 - 22 Slovenia

• Thursday, 30 January:
  • Sweden 24 - 30 France
  • Slovenia 25 - 28 Hungary

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	France	6	3	0	0	90	70	+20
2	Hungary	2	1	0	2	84	87	-3
3	Slovenia	2	1	0	2	76	84	-8
4	Sweden	2	1	0	2	82	91	-9

Ranking games in Lisbon

• Saturday, 1 February
  • places 5 to 8:
    • Yugoslavia 33 - 34 Hungary (double overtime)
    • Iceland 27 - 30 Russia

• Sunday, 2 February
  • places 7 and 8:
    • Iceland 32 - 27 Yugoslavia
  • places 5 and 6:
    • Russia 30 - 25 Hungary

Semi-finals in Lisbon

• Saturday, 1 February
  • Germany 23 - 22 France
  • Spain 37 - 39 Croatia (double overtime)

Bronze medal game in Lisbon

• Sunday, 2 February
  • Spain 22 - 27 France

Final in Lisbon

Croatian national handball team

• Sunday, 2 February
  • Croatia 34 - 31 Germany

Final standings

1. Croatia
2. Germany
3. France
4. Spain
5. Russia
6. Hungary
7. Iceland
8. Yugoslavia
9. Denmark
10. Poland
11. Slovenia
12. Portugal
13. Sweden
14. Tunisia
15. Egypt
16. Qatar
17. Argentina
18. Algeria
19. Saudi Arabia
20. Kuwait
21. Australia
22. Brazil
23. Morocco
24. Greenland

The first 7 teams were qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Christian Schwarzer (Germany) was named MVP of the tournament.