11 spots for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship will be delivered this week, as the Qualification Europe – Phase 2 throws off on Wednesday, 9 April, with 22 hopeful teams aiming to make it to the world handball flagship competition.

At the draw which took place on 15 December, in the Women's EHF EURO 2024 closing press conference in Vienna, 11 teams were seeded – the ones which had the best finishing position at the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 this December – with the last seven ones, plus four coming from the Qualification Europe Phase 1, being unseeded.

The first legs will be played on 9 and 10 April, with the second legs on 12 and 13 April, with the exception of the doubleheader between Iceland and Israel, which will see both matches played in Reykjavik on 9 and 10 April.

There are several interesting and high-profile clashes, with the ones between Slovenia and Serbia, as well as Croatia and Spain respectibely dominating the headlines.

For Serbia, runners-up at the 2013 IHF Women’s World Championship, this would be their seventh consecutive appearance, and this doubleheader will mark the official debut of new coach, Bent Dahl, on the team’s bench. Slovenia are also trying to qualify for the fifth consecutive time at the IHF Women’s World Championship.

Spain, bronze medallists in 2011 and runners-up in 2019, have qualified for the world handball flagship competition in every edition since 2005, while Croatia were present in the last two editions, but are a team to be reckoned with.

Elsewhere, the Faroe Islands are aiming for their maiden appearance at the IHF Women’s World Championship, facing Lithuania in a crunch doubleheader, with the latter side last appearing in the competition in 1993.

Romania are facing Italy, in their bid to remain the only team to have qualified for each edition of the competition, while Sweden are overwhelming favourites against Kosovo. Austria are also trying to secure their third consecutive appearance in the competition when they take on Türkiye, where Spanish coach David Ginesta Montes will make his debut in an official match.

18 teams are now confirmed for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship. From Europe, co-hosts Germany and the Netherlands are joined by reigning world champions France and the top three teams at the EHF EURO 2024, Norway, Denmark and Hungary.

The top four placed sides at the 2024 AHF Asian Women’s Handball Championship – Japan, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan and the Islamic Republic of Iran – are also qualfiied, as well as the top four sides at the 2024 CAHB African Women’s Handball Championship – Angola, Senegal, Tunisia and Egypt. The People’s Republic of China joined the four Asian sides via their wild card, taking the total to five teams.

From the South and Central American Handball Confederation, the top three sides at the 2024 South and Central American Women’s Handball Championship – Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay – have sealed their spots for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship. One more team representing the continent will be decided in the next weeks.

The two Local Organising Committees chose to assign the teams with the biggest fan bases as close as possible to their borders and to split the allegedly strongest teams – based on their previous results at the IHF Women’s World Championship – equally between both hosting nations.

The two hosts – Germany and the Netherlands – will feature in the preliminary round of the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship in Groups C and E respectively, which will take place in Stuttgart and Rotterdam. France, the reigning world champions, will play in Group F in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Another side which is due to play in 's-Hertogenbosch are Hungary, the EHF EURO 2024 bronze medallists, seeded in Group B.

Denmark, bronze medallists at the 2021 and 2023 IHF Women’s World Championships, will play in Group A in Rotterdam.

The runners-up of the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship and current Olympic and European champions, Norway, are due to play in Group H in Trier, as well as Slovenia, which have been seeded in Group D in case they manage  to secure their ticket in the European Qualifiers, where they play in a crunch doubleheader with Serbia.

The last team that has been seeded is Sweden, with the Scandinavian side set to play in Stuttgart in Group G if they secure their berth.

In case Slovenia and/or Sweden should not qualify, the assignment for the respective groups/cities will be updated upon agreement between the IHF and the Local Organising Committees.

The competition will take place in five venues, two in the Netherlands and three in Germany, with the final weekend being scheduled in the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The composition of the pots will be announced in due time.

2025 IHF Women’s World Championship - Qualification Europe Phase 2 

• Switzerland vs Slovakia
• Italy vs Romania
• Poland vs North Macedonia
• Sweden vs Kosovo
• Slovenia vs Serbia
• Portugal vs Montenegro
• Faroe Islands vs Lithuania
• Czechia vs Ukraine
• Croatia vs Spain
• Austria vs Türkiye
• Iceland vs Israel