The European qualification for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship will be contested in two rounds between November 2023 and May 2024.[1] They will join six already qualified teams: Croatia and Norway, as co-hosts, Denmark as co-host and title holder, France as defending runner-ups, and two best ranked teams at 2024 European Men's Handball Championship excluding Croatia, Norway and Denmark.
Format
In the first round of qualification, ten teams will be drawn in to knock-out ties. The winners advance to part one of the qualification phase 2, where they join Lithuania, Ukraine and Belgium. The advancing teams will then join the 18 teams participating at the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship for the final qualifiers.[2]
Qualification phase 1
The draw took place on 5 July 2023.[3][4] The winners of each tie will advance to phase 2.
Seeding
The 10 teams were seeded according to the current men's national team ranking.[5]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|
 Israel Slovakia Finland Turkey Estonia |
 Latvia Italy Kosovo Luxembourg Great Britain |
Overview
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg |
– | Israel |
17 Jan | 18 Jan |
| Great Britain |
28–58 | Finland |
16–25 | 12–33 |
| Latvia |
51–58 | Estonia |
29–30 | 22–28 |
| Slovakia |
58–51 | Kosovo |
33–23 | 25–28 |
| Turkey |
64–65 | Italy |
37–28 | 27–37 |
Matches
All times are UTC+1.
| 17 January 2024[note 1] 18:45 |
Luxembourg |
v | Israel |
d'Coque, Luxembourg City Referees: Bolic, Hurich (AUT) |
| Report | ||||
| 18 January 2024[note 1] 18:45 |
Israel |
v | Luxembourg |
d'Coque, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Referees: Bolic, Hurich (AUT) |
| Report | ||||
| 2 November 2023 20:00 |
Great Britain |
16–25 | Finland |
Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility, Motherwell Attendance: 340 Referees: Pétursson, Þrastarson (ISL) |
| Pereira 7 | (8–11) | Helander 9 | ||
1× 2× |
Report | 2× 4×
|
| 4 November 2023 15:00 |
Finland |
33–12 | Great Britain |
Karis idrottshall, Karis Attendance: 650 Referees: Kull, Tint (EST) |
| Helander 10 | (14–5) | Pereira 4 | ||
| 3× |
Report | 1× 2×
|
Finland won 58–28 on aggregate.
| 2 November 2023 18:40 |
Latvia |
29–30 | Estonia |
Valmiers Olympic Centre, Valmiera Attendance: 450 Referees: Oyarzun, Zaragueta (ESP) |
| Geislers 12 | (12–13) | Toom 7 | ||
| 1× 2× |
Report | 2×
|
| 4 November 2023 18:00 |
Estonia |
28–22 | Latvia |
Kalev Sports Hall, Tallinn Attendance: 660 Referees: Fukala, Mohyla (CZE) |
| Varik 7 | (12–7) | Geislers 5 | ||
| 1× 6× |
Report | 3×
|
Estonia won 58–51 on aggregate.
| 2 November 2023 18:00 |
Slovakia |
33–23 | Kosovo |
City Sports Hall Považská Bystrica, Považská Bystrica Attendance: 1,400 Referees: Pagh, Thygesen (DEN) |
| Prokop 7 | (15–9) | Gjuka, Ninaj 5 | ||
| 2× 2× |
Report | 1× 3×
|
| 5 November 2023 17:00 |
Kosovo |
28–25 | Slovakia |
Palace of Youth and Sports, Pristina Attendance: 750 Referees: Cindrić, Gonzurek (CRO) |
| Dedaj, Ninaj 6 | (14–14) | Briatka, Macháč 4 | ||
| 2× 4× |
Report | 2× 6×
|
Slovakia won 58–51 on aggregate.
| 1 November 2023 17:00 |
Turkey |
37–28 | Italy |
Sakarya Sports Hall, Serdivan Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Ivanović, Vujisić (MNE) |
| Döne, Pehlivan 10 | (15–13) | Parisini 7 | ||
| 2× 6× |
Report | 2×
|
| 5 November 2023 18:00 |
Italy |
37–27 | Turkey |
Pala Santa Filomena, Chieti Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Thiyagarajah, Thiyagarajah (GER) |
| Mengon, Moretti 7 | (16–11) | Pehlivan 7 | ||
| 3× |
Report | 1× 6×
|
Italy won 65–64 on aggregate.
Qualification phase 2
Part 1
The winners of phase 1 will join Belgium, Lithuania and Ukraine. The matches will be played in March 2024.[2] The draw was made on 21 November 2023.[7]
Qualified teams
from Phase 1
Seeding
The eight teams were seeded according to the current men's national team ranking.[8]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|
 Ukraine Lithuania.svg.png.webp){kind=small} BelgiumWinner of QP1 |
Slovakia Finland Estonia Italy |
Overview
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium |
– | Italy |
13 Mar | 16 Mar |
| Estonia |
– | Ukraine |
13 Mar | 16 Mar |
| Slovakia |
– | Winner of QP1 | 13 Mar | 16 Mar |
| Finland |
– | Lithuania |
13 Mar | 16 Mar |
Matches
| 13 March 2024 | Belgium |
v | Italy |
|
| Report | ||||
| 16 March 2024 | Italy |
v | Belgium |
|
| Report | ||||
| 13 March 2024 | Estonia |
v | Ukraine |
|
| Report | ||||
| 16 March 2024 | Ukraine |
v | Estonia |
|
| Report | ||||
| 13 March 2024 | Slovakia |
v | Winner of QP1 | |
| 16 March 2024 | Winner of QP1 | v | Slovakia |
|
| 13 March 2024 | Finland |
v | Lithuania |
|
| Report | ||||
| 16 March 2024 | Lithuania |
v | Finland |
|
| Report | ||||
Part 2
The winners of part 1 will join 18 teams from the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship, who did not directly qualified for the 2025 World Championship.[7]
Qualified teams
Notes
- 1 2 Due to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the matches of Israel were postponed.[6]
References
- ↑ "IHF Council awards events up to 2027". ihf.info. 28 February 2020.
- 1 2 "Draw set for 2025 Men's World Championship qualification". eurohandball.com. 5 July 2023.
- ↑ "Men's World Championship Qualification draw sets up Baltic clash". eurohandball.com. 5 July 2023.
- ↑ "Handball-WM 2025: 1. Phase der Qualifikation ausgelost". handball-world.news. 5 July 2023.
- ↑ "Denmark top new EHF men's national team ranking". eurohandball.com. 5 July 2023.
- ↑ "WM-Qualifikationsspiele gegen Israel verlegt". wort.lu. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- 1 2 "Italian comeback highlights World Championship qualification". eurohandball.com. 6 November 2023.
- ↑ "Four ties in Men's World Championship qualification to be drawn". eurohandball.com. 20 November 2023.