November will be an action-packed month in terms of handball, with several high-profile continental competitions, at both club and international level ready to deliver drama and exciting matches.

As the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship will start on 14 January 2025, in Croatia, Denmark and Norway, there is still some time left for the men’s teams to prepare, but the top women players in the world will start their adventure in their respective continental competitions.

On 28 November, the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 will throw off in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, with a line-up of 24 teams, the maiden edition of the women’s premium European competition to feature this number of teams, an uptick of eight teams from the previous editions.

The reigning world champions, France, the reigning Olympic champions, Norway, and perennial contenders Denmark will all line up at the start, aiming for a medal, while contenders like Sweden, the Netherlands, Hungary or Germany also being at the start.

The preliminary round will see two teams from each of the six groups qualifying into the main round, with the final and the bronze medal match taking place on 15 December.

Moving on to Africa, the 26th CAHB African Women’s Championship will be held in the  Democratic Republic of Congo from 27 November to 7 December 2024. 12 teams will line up at the start, being divided into two groups of six teams each. The top four sides will progress to the quarter-finals.

The 2024 South and Central American Women’s Championship will also take place between 25 November and 1 December, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with two big favourites at the start, hosts Brazil and Argentina.

All of these three events will be qualification events for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, which will take place between 27 November and 14 December 2025 in Germany and the Netherlands.

In the men’s international scene, the top European sides will collide for the first time in the EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers, between 6 and 10 November, with the first two matchdays in this event, which will see 20 teams join the three hosts – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – and reigning champions France in the competition.

The first days of November will see crunch clashes, such are the ones between Germany and Switzerland, Poland and Romania, or Switzerland and Austria, with some of the top teams in the world tuning up for the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship.

The Men’s IHF Trophy South and Central America for junior and youth is also scheduled in the start of November in Managua, Nicaragua, while the IHF Trophy Africa for youth and Junior will also take place in Ethiopia, between 2 and 6 November, with teams like Cameroon, hosts Ethiopia, Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria and Zambia at the start.

At club level, the Asian representative for the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship will be decided, at the 27th Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship, scheduled between 12 and 23 November in Doha, Qatar.

Nine teams will be at the start, after two sides withdrew for the competition, with powerhouses of the continent like the Saudi side, Khaleej Club, Kuwaiti side Al-Kuwait or Al-Shabab from Bahrain, plus two Qatari teams, Al-Rayyan and Al-Duhail will try to secure their place at the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship.

Moving on to the beach, the third and final stage of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour will take place in Doha, Qatar, from 6 to 7 November and includes four men’s and four women’s national teams from six countries playing a total of 16 games.

Three continents will be showcased in Qatar, with South America, Europe and Asia all represented at the Al-Gharafa Beach Venue, one of the venues which hosted beach handball at the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games and which also hosted the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Finals exactly a year previously, won by Qatar (men) and Brazil (women).