2021 World Men's Handball Championship
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Egypt |
| Venue(s) | 5 (in 5 host cities) |
| Dates | 14–31 January |
| Teams | 32 (from 5 confederations) |
The 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship will be the 27th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Egypt from 14 to 31 January 2021.
This will be the first Handball Championship with 32 teams instead of 24.[1] This will be the third championship hosted in Africa and second in Egypt. It's the first championship to be hosted outside of Europe since 2015. Denmark will be the defending champions after winning for the first time in 2019 on home soil.
Bidding process
Seven nations initially expressed interest in hosting the tournament:[2]
However until the bidding phase expired on 15 April 2015 only three nations entered documents to bid for this event:[3]
A decision was scheduled for 4 June 2015, but the Congress was moved to 6 November 2015. Egypt was chosen as the host.[4]
Format
The new format will see 32 teams split in eight groups of four teams each. Top three teams from each group will progress to the main round while the teams ranked last in their preliminary round groups play the President's Cup. The 24 main round teams are divided into four groups of six teams each. The top-two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
Venues
Following is a list of all venues and host cities which will be used.
| Cairo | New Administrative Capital | |
|---|---|---|
| Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex | Handball Hall | |
| Capacity: 16,200 | Capacity: 7,000 | |
| File:Cairo Stadium.jpg | ||
| Borg El Arab | 6th of October City | |
| Handball Hall | Handball Hall | |
| Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 4,500 | |
Qualification
As is the case until now, the World Championship organizer will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. Following decision about increasing number of participating teams, changes are about to be done in the distribution of places by Continental Confederations. The number of compulsory places awarded to each Continental Confederation is increased as follows: four places each for Africa, Asia, Europe. Starting from this tournament Pan America will be split into two zones: the North America and Caribbean Zone, having one compulsory place and the South and Central America Zone having three compulsory places. There will also be a South and Central American Men's Last Chance Qualification Tournament which will provide a space for the winning team. One additional place was available for Oceania, but only in the case where that national team ranked fifth or higher at the Asian Championship. Since no Oceania team placed among the top five at the Asian Championship, the IHF awarded an additional wild card.[5] In addition, there will be 12 performance places for the Continental Confederations, which are based on the teams ranked 1–12 of the preceding World Championship. According to the new qualification system[6] and taking into consideration the results of the 2019 Men’s World Championship, 32 places are distributed as follows:
- Host nation: 1
- Reigning world champion: 1
- Africa: 6
- Asia: 4
- Europe: 13
- Pan America: 5
- North America and Caribbean: 1
- South and Central America: 3
- South and Central American Last Chance Qualification Tournament: 1
- Oceania/additional wild card: 1
- Wild card: 1
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 6 November 2015 |  Sochi
|
1 | Egypt
|
| 2019 World Championship | 10–27 January 2019 |  Denmark Germany
|
1 | Denmark
|
| 2020 European Championship | 9–26 January 2020 |  Austria Norway Sweden
|
3 |  Croatia Norway Spain
|
| 2020 African Championship | 16–26 January 2020 |  Tunisia
|
6 |  Algeria Angola Cape Verde DR Congo Morocco Tunisia
|
| 2020 Asian Championship | 16–27 January 2020 |  Kuwait City
|
4[1] |  Bahrain Japan Qatar South Korea
|
| 2020 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship[7] | 21–25 January 2020 |  Maringá
|
3 |  Argentina Brazil Uruguay
|
| 2020 Nor.ca. Men's Handball Championship | TBD[2] |  Mexico City
|
1 | |
| 2020 South and Central American Handball Last Chance Qualification Tournament | 19–25 October 2020[2] |  San Salvador
|
1 | |
| European qualification | 23 October 2019 – 5 July 2020 (Cancelled) | Various (Cancelled) | 10[3] | Austria Belarus Czech Republic France Germany Hungary Iceland Portugal Slovenia Sweden
|
| Wild card[8] | 9 July 2020 | — | 1 + 1[1] |  Poland Russia
|
^ 1. Since countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships did not finish within the top five, they did not qualify for the World Championship. Since they will be placed sixth or lower, the place will transfer to the wild card spot.
^ 2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South and North American qualification tournaments will be played at a later date. The IHF Council decided to extend the deadline for the organisation of the remaining qualification tournaments until 31 October 2020.[9]
^ 3. Because the european qualification was cancelled, the final ranking of the 2020 European Men's Handball Championship was used to determine the particiapnts.[10]
Qualified teams
| Country | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances1, 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt |
Host | 6 November 2015 | 15 (1964, 1993, 1995, 1997,1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Denmark[11] |
World champion | 27 January 2019 | 23 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Angola |
Top seven at 2020 African Championship | 20 January 2020 | 4 (2005, 2007, 2017, 2019) |
| Algeria |
Top seven at 2020 African Championship | 20 January 2020 | 14 (1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
| Tunisia |
Top seven at 2020 African Championship | 20 January 2020 | 14 (1967, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Qatar |
Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship | 21 January 2020 | 7 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Japan |
Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship | 23 January 2020 | 14 (1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2005, 2011, 2017, 2019) |
| Bahrain |
Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship | 23 January 2020 | 3 (2011, 2017, 2019) |
| South Korea |
Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship | 23 January 2020 | 11 (1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 20193) |
| Argentina |
Top three at 2020 South and Central American Championship | 23 January 2020 | 12 (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Brazil |
Top three at 2020 South and Central American Championship | 23 January 2020 | 14 (1958, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Croatia |
Top three at 2020 European Championship | 24 January 2020 | 13 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Spain |
Top three at 2020 European Championship | 24 January 2020 | 20 (1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Cape Verde |
Top seven at 2020 African Championship | 24 January 2020 | 0 (debut) |
| Morocco |
Top seven at 2020 African Championship | 24 January 2020 | 6 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007) |
| Norway |
Top three at 2020 European Championship | 25 January 2020 | 15 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019) |
| Uruguay |
Top three at 2020 South and Central American Championship | 25 January 2020 | 0 (debut) |
| DR Congo |
Top seven at 2020 African Championship | 26 January 2020 | 0 (debut) |
| Austria |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 6 (1938, 1958, 1993, 2011, 2015, 2019) |
| Belarus |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 4 (1995, 2013, 2015, 2017) |
| Czech Republic |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 6 (1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2015) |
| France |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 22 (1954, 1958 ,1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1978, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Germany |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 25 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 19903, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Hungary |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 20 (1958, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019) |
| Iceland |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 20 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Portugal |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 3 (1997, 2001, 2003) |
| Slovenia |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 8 (1995, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017) |
| Sweden |
2020 European Championship final ranking | 24 April 2020 | 24 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
| Poland |
Wildcard | 9 July 2020 | 15 (1958, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) |
| Russia |
Wildcard | 9 July 2020 | 13 (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
- 1 Bold indicates champion for that year
- 2 Italic indicates host country for that year
- 3 The associations of South Korea and North Korea were invited by the International Handball Federation to enter a unified team in the 2019 World Championship
Draw
The final draw will be held on 5 September 2020.
Seeding
On 23 July 2020, the pots were announced.[12]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark Spain Croatia Norway Slovenia Germany Portugal Sweden
|
Egypt Argentina Austria Hungary Tunisia Algeria Qatar Belarus
|
Iceland Brazil Uruguay Czech Republic France South Korea1 Japan Bahrain
|
Angola Cape Verde Morocco DR Congo Poland Russia TBD TBD |
- 1 previously played as a
Unified Korea team
References
- ^ "IHF Council decides to increase number of teams at World Championships". ihf.info. 19 October 2018.
- ^ "Bidding process for the 2021/2023 Men's and Women's World Championships". ihf.info. 18 February 2015.
- ^ "Applications for Men's World Championships 2021/2023". ihf.info. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
- ^ "2021 and 2023 IHF Men's World Championships Awarded". ihf.info. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "Distribution of places for expanded World Championship". ihf.info. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
- ^ "Pathway to Men's World Championship 2021 and Men's EHF Euro 2022 Qualifiers". eurohandball.com. 20 July 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ "Argentina beat Brazil for South and Central American title". ihf.info. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- ^ "Wild cards awarded to Poland and Russia". International Handball Federation. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
- ^ "Qualification deadline for 2021 Men's World Championship extended". ihf.info. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ "Information on the future of the European handball season 2019/20". eurohandball.com. 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Flawless Denmark claim first world title". 27 January 2019.
- ^ "IHF publish pots for Egypt 2021". 23 July 2020.