2025 World Women's Handball Championship qualification
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The 2025 World Women's Handball Championship qualification decided who qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship in Germany and Netherlands. Excluding the previous World Championship, qualifying occurred between October 2024 and April 2025. The championship will feature 32 teams for the third time.
Slot allocation
The slot allocation is as follows:
- AHF (Asia): 4 slots
- CAHB (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
| Detailed distribution of places (following current IHF rules[1]) | Vacancies | Details | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organisers[A] | 2 | ||
| Reigning world champion[B] | 1 | ||
| Performance places for the continental confederations | 12 | Based on teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding world championship | |
| Africa | 0 | ||
| Asia | 0 | ||
| Europe | 11 | ||
| North America and the Caribbean | 0 | ||
| South and Central America | 1 | As Brazil ranked 9th in previous World Championship | |
| Oceania | 0 | ||
| Compulsory places for the continental confederations | 15 | 17 compulsory places reduced by 1 due to having two organisers | |
| Africa | 4 | ||
| Asia | 4 | ||
| Europe | 3 | 4 compulsory places reduced by 1 due to having two organisers from Europe | |
| North America and the Caribbean | 1 | ||
| South and Central America | 3 | ||
| Oceania | 0 or 1[C] | Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card | |
| Wild card | 1 or 2[D] | ||
| Total | 32 |
Summary
Summary of qualification process
The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. In regards to the 12 performance spots, and based on the results of the 2025 Women's World Championship, Europe receives 11 more spots, while South and Central America takes 1.
 | |||||||
| Detailed summary of qualification process | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | Direct slots | Teams started | Teams eliminated | Teams qualified | Percentage of entered teams with spots in finals | Qualifying start date | Qualifying end date |
| AHF | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4+1 | 50% | 3 December 2024 | 10 December 2024 |
| CAHB | 4 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 33% | 27 November 2024 | 7 December 2024 |
| EHF[E] | 15+2 | 34+2 | 19 | 15+2+1 | 44.11% | 24 October 2024 | 13 April 2025 |
| NACHC | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 20% | 7 April 2025 | 12 April 2025 |
| OCHF[F] | 0 or 1 | 0[G] | 0 | 0 | 0% | ||
| SCAHC | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50% | 26 November 2024 | 26 April 2025 |
| Total | 28+2+2 | 14+2 | 24 | 28+2+2 | 24 October 2024 | 13 April 2025 | |
Summary of qualified teams
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nations | 28 February 2020 |  Cairo |
2 |  Germany Netherlands |
| 2023 World Championship | 17 December 2023 |  Denmark Norway Sweden |
1 |  France |
| 2024 South and Central American Championship | 26–30 November 2024 |  Niterói |
3+1 |  Argentina Brazil Uruguay |
| 2024 African Championship | 27 November – 7 December 2024 |  Kinshasa |
4 |  Angola Egypt Senegal Tunisia |
| 2024 Asian Championship | 3–10 December 2024 |  New Delhi |
4 |  Iran Japan Kazakhstan South Korea |
| 2024 European Championship | 28 November – 15 December 2024 |  Austria Hungary Switzerland |
3 | Denmark Hungary Norway |
| 2025 Nor.Ca. Women's Championship | 7–12 April 2025 |  Mexico City |
1 |  Cuba |
| European qualification | 24 October 2024 – 13 April 2025 | Various | 11 | Austria Czech Republic Spain Faroe Islands Iceland Montenegro Poland Romania Serbia Sweden Switzerland |
| 2025 South and Central American Last Chance Qualifier | 3–10 December 2024 |  Palmira |
1 |  Paraguay |
| Wild card | 31 March 2025 |  Doha |
1[1][2] |  China |
^ 1. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council awarded the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships. If they reach a certain performance level.[2][3]
^ 2. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finish within the top 5, they will qualify for the World Championships. If either finishes sixth or lower, the place would have been transferred to the wild card spot. As New Zealand didn't registered and Australia withdrew before the draw, the place is transferred.
2023 World Championship
World champion directly qualified for 2025 edition. France won the 2023 World Championship to secure their ticket to the 2025 edition.
| Rank | Team[4] |
|---|---|
 | France |
 | Norway |
 | Denmark |
| 4 | Sweden |
| 5 | Netherlands |
| 6 | Germany |
| 7 | Montenegro |
| 8 | Czech Republic |
| 9 | Brazil |
| 10 | Hungary |
| 11 |  Slovenia |
| 12 | Romania |
| 13 | Spain |
| 14 |  Croatia |
| 15 | Angola |
| 16 | Poland |
| 17 | Japan |
| 18 | Senegal |
| 19 | Austria |
| 20 | Argentina |
| 21 | Serbia |
| 22 | South Korea |
| 23 |  Ukraine |
| 24 |  Cameroon |
| 25 | Iceland |
| 26 |  Congo |
| 27 |  Chile |
| 28 | China |
| 29 | Paraguay |
| 30 | Kazakhstan |
| 31 | Iran |
| 32 |  Greenland |
Asia
Eight teams competed in the Asian Championship, held at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi, India, from 3 to 10 December 2024.[5] The top 4 reached the world championship. Since Australia withdrew before the competition started, Oceania's spot was made into a second wildcard. Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea reached the world championship.[6][7]
| Group A | Group B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Source: Asianhandball |
|
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 8 December | ||||||
| South Korea | 33 | |||||
| 10 December | ||||||
| Iran | 20 | |||||
| South Korea | 24 | |||||
| 8 December | ||||||
| Japan | 25 | |||||
| Japan | 30 | |||||
| Kazakhstan | 23 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 10 December | ||||||
| Iran | 22 | |||||
| Kazakhstan | 28 | |||||
Final standing
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Japan |
| South Korea |
| Kazakhstan |
| 4 | Iran |
| 5 | China |
| 6 | India |
| 7 |  Hong Kong |
| 8 |  Singapore |
| Qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship |
Africa
Twelve teams competed in the African Championship, held at the Stade des Martyrs Gymnasium in Kinshasa, DR Congo, from 27 November to 7 December 2024.[8] The top four from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Angola, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia.[9]
| Group A | Group B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Source: CAN |
|
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 4 December | ||||||||||
| Congo | 24 | |||||||||
| 6 December | ||||||||||
| Tunisia | 28 | |||||||||
| Tunisia | 18 | |||||||||
| 4 December | ||||||||||
| Senegal | 26 | |||||||||
| Cameroon | 19 | |||||||||
| 7 December | ||||||||||
| Senegal | 26 | |||||||||
| Senegal | 18 | |||||||||
| 4 December | ||||||||||
| Angola | 27 | |||||||||
| Egypt | 23 | |||||||||
| 6 December | ||||||||||
| DR Congo | 22 | |||||||||
| Egypt | 22 | |||||||||
| 4 December | ||||||||||
| Angola | 36 | Third place | ||||||||
| Angola | 34 | |||||||||
| 7 December | ||||||||||
 Algeria | 15 | |||||||||
| Tunisia | 25 | |||||||||
| Egypt | 22 | |||||||||
Final standing
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Angola |
| Senegal |
| Tunisia |
| 4 | Egypt |
| 5 | DR Congo |
| 6 | Congo |
| 7 | Cameroon |
| 8 | Algeria |
| 9 |  Guinea |
| 10 |  Cape Verde |
| 11 |  Uganda |
| 12 |  Kenya |
| Team qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship |
Europe
The three highest ranked non-qualified teams secure a ticket to the world championship.
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Norway |
| Denmark |
| Hungary |
| 4 | France |
| 5 | Sweden |
| 6 | Netherlands |
| 7 | Germany |
| 8 | Montenegro |
| 9 | Poland |
| 10 | Slovenia |
| 11 | Romania |
| 12 | Switzerland |
| 13 | Spain |
| 14 | Austria |
| 15 | Czech Republic |
| 16 | Iceland |
| 17 | Faroe Islands |
| 18 |  North Macedonia |
| 19 | Croatia |
| 20 |  Türkiye |
| 21 | Serbia |
| 22 |  Portugal |
| 23 | Ukraine |
| 24 |  Slovakia |
| Team qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship |
European qualification
From October 2024 to April 2025, the EHF organised a separate qualification for 11 places.
Bracket
The draw took place on 15 December 2024 in Vienna.[10]
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland |
68–46 | Slovakia |
38–22 | 30–24 |
Italy  |
38–61 | Romania |
21–30 | 17–31 |
| Poland |
45–39 | North Macedonia |
22–18 | 23–21 |
| Sweden |
94–40 |  Kosovo |
51–16 | 43–24 |
| Slovenia |
60–62 | Serbia |
29–29 | 31–33 |
| Portugal |
45–61 | Montenegro |
19–31 | 26–30 |
| Faroe Islands |
65–56 |  Lithuania |
36–26 | 29–30 |
| Czech Republic |
61–46 | Ukraine |
35–19 | 26–27 |
| Croatia |
44–49 | Spain |
27–26 | 17–23 |
| Austria |
66–54 | Turkey |
36–29 | 30–25 |
| Iceland |
70–48 |  Israel |
39–27 | 31–21 |
North America and Caribbean
The championship was held from 7 to 12 April 2025 in Mexico City, Mexico. The top winner of the championship qualified. Cuba would finish and advance to the world championship.
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| Cuba |
| Mexico |
|  Canada |
| 4 |  United States |
| 5 |  Puerto Rico |
South and Central America
Six teams competed in the South and Central American Championship, held at the Colégio Niterói in Niterói, Brazil, from 26 to 30 November 2024.[11] The top three from the championship qualified. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay would finish in top three and advance to the world championship.[12]
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil (H) |
5 | 10 |
| 2 | Argentina |
5 | 8 |
| 3 | Uruguay |
5 | 6 |
| 4 | Paraguay |
5 | 4 |
| 5 | Chile |
5 | 2 |
| 6 |  El Salvador |
5 | 0 |
Last chance tournament
To decide the last qualifier, a last chance tournament was organised in Palmira, Colombia between the 24 to 26 April 2025.[13]
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paraguay |
2 | 4 |
| 2 | Colombia (H) |
2 | 2 |
| 3 |  Peru |
2 | 0 |
Wildcards
After no Oceanian team achieved a top 5 finish in the Asian Championship, 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.[14]
The United States were provisionally given a wildcard, so the team could use this opportunity to prepare for the 2028 Summer Olympics which they will be hosting.[2][3] 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, Slovenia's coach, Dragan Adžić, stated that his team deserved the last wildcard.[15] On 12 May 2025, Croatia was given the second wildcard, with Slovenia as the first standby.[16][17]