The draw for the preliminary round of the 11th IHF Men’s Youth (Under-19) World Championship will take place on Tuesday, 8 April, at 19:00 CEST, in the sumptuous Abdeen Palace in Cairo, Egypt.

32 teams will line up at the start of the competition, the second edition in history with this number of teams in the line-up, after Croatia 2023. Currently, there are 17 European teams, five African teams, five Asian sides, three teams from the South and Central American Confederation and one from the North Americand Caribbean Handball Confederation qualified. Another team will be decided shortly.

As per the IHF Rules and Regulations, Egypt, the hosting country, have the prerogative of choosing their group, as the 32 teams have been divided into four pots. The procedure of the draw will see teams from Pot 4 drawn first, followed by teams from Pots 3 and 2. Egypt, as the host nation, and a team from Pot 1, will choose their group, with the next teams from Pot 1 drawn next.

The IHF President, Dr Hassan Moustafa, as well as the Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports Dr Ashraf Sobhy will attend the draw.

The 11th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship will take place in four venues in Egypt between 6 and 17 August. The venues are: Cairo Stadium, Cairo Stadium Hall 2, Covered New Hall New Administrative Capital and New Administrative Capital Olympic City Hall.

The draw will be livestreamed on the official IHF YouTube channel.

11th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship - pots

• Pot 1: Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Egypt, Iceland, Germany, Serbia, Norway
• Pot 2: Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, Japan, Tunisia, Switzerland, Brazil, France
• Pot 3: Republic of Korea, Croatia, Guinea, Czechia, Kuwait, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay
• Pot 4: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, United States of America, Bahrain, TBD, Faroe Islands, Austria, Kosovo