Teams to find out their fate at 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship draw

16 Jan. 2023

Teams to find out their fate at 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship draw

The draw for the preliminary round of the 24th IHF Men’s Junior World Championship will take place on Tuesday, 17 January, in Katowice, Poland, in the margins of the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, which is currently taking place in Poland and Sweden.

The competition will be the second in history to be hosted by two countries, Germany and Greece, and the first one since 1979 when the matches were played in Denmark and Sweden.

The 24th IHF Men’s Junior World Championship is the first with 32 teams at the start, an increase of eight teams from the previous edition, which was hosted by Spain, with the trophy going to France for the second time in their history.

As the 2021 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be the first time in four years that the best U21 teams in the world will face off, with 31 of the 32 participating teams having already secured their berths.

15 teams from Europe – including the two hosts Germany and Greece – are due to take part in the tournament, with six teams from Africa, four each from Asia and the South and Central American Handball Confederations, two sides from the North America and Caribbean Handball Confederation.

The other participating team will be known after the 2023 IHF Inter-Continental Trophy, due to take place between 14 and 18 March.

The 32 teams that will participate in the competition have been divided into four pots of eight. As per the Regulations for IHF Competitions, according to Chapter III, Article 1.3.2, the organiser may “assign one team (including the organiser’s team) per group which had previously been assigned to a city”.

The co-hosts have assigned Germany to Group B and Greece to Group H, while France have been sent to Group A, Portugal to Group C, Spain to Group D, Hungary to Group E, Sweden to Group F and Serbia to Group G.

As already mentioned, the draw will take place in Katowice, Poland, and will see teams from Pot 4 drawn first, followed by Pot 3, Pot 2 and finally Pot 1. The draw will run alphabetically, with the first team being assigned to Group A, the second to Group B, etc.

Croatia, the runners-up from Spain 2019, have been assigned to Pot 3 after making their way to the championship, while Denmark, the team with the highest number of medals won in the competition (11), were sent to Pot 2.

Reigning champions France are in Pot 1, as well as other European powerhouses plus two African teams, Egypt and Algeria.

Australia have withdrawn their participation, who will take their place is yet to be announced. 

You can follow the draw via live stream here

2023 IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship draw

Pot 1: Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Serbia, Sweden, Hungary, Algeria, France

Pot 2: Germany, Denmark, Slovenia, Brazil, Faroe Islands, Greece, Iceland, Poland

Pot 3: Japan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Tunisia, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Croatia

Pot 4: Norway, Angola, Morocco, Libya, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, USA, IHF Inter-Continental Trophy team