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At the IHF Council meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on February 28, 2020, Croatia, Denmark, and Norway were selected as the hosts. Norway is hosting the World Men’s Handball Championship for the first time, Croatia for the second time, and Denmark for the third time. Given it’s hosted by three nations, for the first time ever, the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship has official names in three languages apart from the English: Svjetsko prvenstvo u rukometu 2025. (in Croatian), Verdensmesterskabet i håndbold for mænd 2025 (in Danish), and Verdensmesterskapet i håndball for menn 2025 (in Norwegian).

As the governing and regulating authority for indoor and beach handball, it’s clear that the IHF is in charge of organizing the major international handball competitions, including the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship.

Where and When Will the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship Be Held?

From January 14 to February 2, 2025, the 32 teams from five confederations compete in the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship.

Eleven cities—five in Croatia, two in Denmark, and four in Norway—were included in the bid. But Denmark said a year earlier that the competition would only be held at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning. Then, Norway declared that the Telenor Arena in Bærum, which would be renamed the Unity Arena for the tournament, would be the lone location for the competition. After that, the IHF confirmed these locations and the final three Croatian cities—Zagreb (Arena Zagreb), Varaždin (Varaždin Arena), and Poreč (Sportska dvorana Žatika)—as the host cities. Herning will host the first game, and Bærum will host the final match.

As of right now, no prize money has been revealed for the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship. However, some elite international teams will earn a lot of money after winning gold, silver, or bronze in the biggest handball tournament held in the first month of 2025. The amount paid to each winning national team can only be estimated, as neither association has disclosed them. The countries that will supposedly pay the most for medal winners are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar. Players from all three countries will receive US$150,000 if they take home the gold medal. If they take the silver medal, the players of these national teams will earn US$75,000, while for the bronze, they’ll take US$50,000.

Which Teams Will Take Part in the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship?

Germany

Germany

Czech Republic

Czech Republic

Switzerland

Switzerland

Poland

Poland

Denmark

Denmark

Italy

Italy

France

France

Austria

Austria

The slot allocation is as follows:

AHF (Asia): 4 slots

• Bahrain
• Japan
• Kuwait
• Qatar

CAHB (Africa): 5 slots

• Algeria
• Cape Verde
• Egypt
• Guinea
• Tunisia

EHF (Europe): 17 slots (including the three co-hosts) + 1 slot (wildcard)

• Austria
• Croatia (co-host)
• Czech Republic
• Denmark (co-host)
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• North Macedonia
• Norway (co-host)
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland (wildcard)

NACHC (North America and the Caribbean): 1 slot + 1 slot (wildcard)

• Cuba
• USA (wildcard)

OCHF (Oceania): 0 slots (the IHF distributed two wildcards after no Oceanian team placed in the top five of the Asian Championship)

SCAHC (South and Central America): 3 slots

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Chile

The 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship is held in three stages: Preliminary round (round-robin), Main round(round-robin), and Final round (single elimination).

The 32 participants are divided into the following eight groups of four in the Preliminary round, which will take place from January 14 to 20.

• Group A: Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Poland;
• Group B: Denmark, Italy, Tunisia and Algeria;
• Group C: France, Austria, Qatar and Kuwait;
• Group D: Netherlands, Hungary, North Macedonia and Guinea;
• Group E: Portugal, Brazil, Norway, USA;
• Group F: Sweden, Spain, Chile, Japan;
• Group G: Slovenia, Iceland, Cape Verde, Cuba;
• Group H: Egypt, Croatia, Argentina, Bahrain.

Three matchdays will be played in each group. Based on the results of the Preliminary round, three best-placed teams from each group will advance to the Main round. The teams that take the last places will compete for the President’s Cup, consisting of two groups of four. The teams can play for a rating outside the top spots in the President’s Cup, and they can play more games to gain more international experience.

The Main round, which starts on January 21 and ends five days later, will have four groups of six teams: Group I will combine teams from Groups A and B, Group II will combine teams from Groups C and D, Group III will combine teams from Groups E and F, and Group IV will combine teams from Groups G and H. They’ll play five matches each, aiming to reach the Final round of eight teams, which will form playoff (single elimination) pairs, starting with the quarterfinals (January 28 and 29). There, the following pairs will be crossed: II1 vs. IV2, IV1 vs. II2, I1 vs. II2, and III1 vs. I2. The semifinals are scheduled for January 30 and 31. The bronze medalist and world champion will be determined on February 2.

Who’ll Win the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship?

The three medalists from the 2024 EHF European Men’s Handball Championship last January—France, Denmark, and Sweden—have the best chance of winning the gold medal, plus fourth-placed Germany and one of the co-hosts Croatia. You should start by examining the 2025 World Men’s Handball World Championships outright betting market on the best European betting sites for these teams.

Egypt, which is listed around 10th depending on the bookmaker, is the only non-European squad that potentially interfere in the medal contests.

Pros and Cons of the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship Favorites

Features of the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship

The World Men’s Handball Championship is being held in three countries for the first time with this event.

Having won the editions in 2019, 2021, and 2023, Denmark is the triple defending champion. However, they aren’t the most successful side in the tournament history. France has the most gold medals, six, and shares the first place on the all-time list with Sweden for the number of medals in total at the World Men’s Handball Championship: 12 each.

With the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship, handball continues to attract widespread interest worldwide. For all regions without rights-holder agreements, the official IHF-Competitions YouTube account offers a free live stream of all 108 games across four venues. Additionally, each national team’s matches and beyond will be broadcast by the TV station that brought the TV rights from IHF for that country.