The 16th edition of the IHF Men's Super Globe is just around the corner, with a record 12 teams lining up at the start of the competition, which brings together the top club sides from all over the world between 18 and 23 October.

It will be the third time in history that the competition will be hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the second time in Dammam after a three-year break. The previous edition, which the German side SC Magdeburg won, took place in Jeddah.

12 teams from five continents will line up, with the European Handball Federation being represented by four sides, the Asian Handball Federation  by three sides, the African Handball Confederation by two teams and the North American and Caribbean Handball Confederation, the South and Central American Handball Confederation and the Oceania Continent Handball Federation by one team each.

The draw for this edition of the IHF Men's Super Globe was held in Montreux, Switzerland, on the outskirts of the Olympic Result and Information Service Working Group Meeting for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Wednesday, 28 September 2022.

The 12 participating teams were divided into four groups of three, with the host side Mudhar, the reigning Saudi Arabia champion, having the right to choose their group after the teams from pots 1 and 3 had been drawn, according to the draw procedure and the rules established by the International Handball Federation .

Reigning champions SC Magdeburg, the German side who earned a place in the competition for their result in the previous edition, will play in Group A alongside Australian side Sydney Uni and Saudi Arabian team Khaleej.

In Group B, the winners of the EHF European League Men, SL Benfica, who will make their debut in the competition and become the first-ever Portuguese team to take part in the IHF Men's Super Globe, face host Mudhar and Al Ahly SC, the winners of CAHB Africa Men's Handball Super Cup.

Group C will feature Handebol Taubaté, the winner of the South and Central American Men's Club Handball Championship, who participate for the seventh time in the IHF Men's Super Globe. They will be facing Łomża Industria Kielce, the runners-up in the EHF Champions League Men, who received a Wild Card, and Al-Kuwait SC, the winner of the AHF Asian Club League Championship, a rookie in the competition.

Finally, Barça are considered the favourites in Group D, where they will aim to finish first and qualify for the semi-finals. They will play against debutants Club Ministros, the Mexican team that became the champions of the North American and Caribbean Senior Club Championship and in-form Espérance de Tunis, the winner of the Arab Handball Championship of Champions.

Only the teams ranked first in each group will qualify for the semi-finals, which will take place on Saturday, 22 October, with the finals scheduled for Sunday, 23 October.

Several high-profile stars will be at the start, as the reigning EHF Champions League Men winners will feature in the competition for the seventh time, including Barça's left wing, Aitor Arino, the only player who won the competition five times, and the Spanish side's goalkeeper, Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, who secured the trophy four times

Kielce, who had a strong start in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League this season, but lost against Barça, also have a star-studded line-up with plenty of talent at their disposal. Such as goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, the Dujshebaev brothers Alex and Dani or right back Nedim Remili.

SC Magdeburg have failed to replicate the kind of season they had last time around when they took part in the IHF Men's Super Globe, but are still a strong side, despite missing right back Omar Ingi Magnusson, the top scorer of the EHF EURO 2022, who travelled back to Iceland for personal reasons.

Espérance de Tunis, however, are coming in red hot, winning three trophies in less than one month – the Arab Handball Championship of Champions, the CAHB African Handball Champions League and the Tunisian Cup.