Teams find out their fate at the 2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship draw
28 Jan. 2025

The IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship will return in 2025, for its fifth edition, with eight teams set to battle for the big prize in Varna, Bulgaria, between 11 and 16 March.
Bulgaria will host the event for the third time after the 2017 and the 2023 editions, when the Faroe Islands and Cuba were crowned winners respectively.
There are five European sides taking part – hosts Bulgaria, Cyprus, Great Britain, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova – while the United States of America return after taking part for the first time in 2019, when they finished fifth. Nigeria will also make their third consecutive appearance, with Paraguay ready to make their debut in the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship
The draw for the preliminary round of the competition took place on Tuesday, 28 January, at 11:00 CET, in Oslo, on the outskirts of the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship.
The eight teams will be separated into two groups of four teams each in the preliminary round. There was no protection for the draw, with the teams in Pot 1 being drawn first, followed by teams in Pot 3 and teams in Pot 4. Bulgaria, as the host nation, had the prerogative to choose their group, with the other team in Pot 2, Azerbaijan, going in the other group.
Bulgaria chose to play in Group A, where they are facing Cyprus, Great Britain and Paraguay, whereas in Group B, the United States of America will face Azerbaijan, Nigeria and the Republic of Moldova.
Two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, with the last two placed teams in each group heading into the Placement Matches.
2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship
Group A: Cyprus, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Paraguay
Group B: United States of America, Azebaijan, Nigeria, Republic of Moldova