The International Handball Federation (IHF) can confirm updates to the starting line-ups of both women's age-category World Championships taking place this summer.

The 25th IHF Women's Junior (U20) World Championship, hosted by the People's Republic of China in Jinzhong from 24 June to 5 July 2026, will see the Faroe Islands as the final confirmed participant. The Faroese side earned their place in accordance with IHF Rules and Regulations following a vacancy in the original qualification line-up, after Australia have withdrawn from the competition. The next teams which could represent Oceania via their continental path, New Zealand and Fiji, also deferred their participation in the 2026 IHF Women's Junior World Championship.

The Faroe Islands will start the competition in Group H, alongside Croatia, Japan and Norway.

Previously, Algeria also booked their ticket for the 2026 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship. As Guinea had already secured qualification for the 2026 IHF Women's Junior World Championship prior to the IHF Trophy Women Intercontinental Phase, by finishing second in the standings of their continental competition, the qualification spot reserved for the IHF Trophy winner is to be allocated in accordance with the IHF Rules and Regulations.

Accordingly, said spot shall be awarded to the highest-ranked team from the same continental confederation as the IHF Trophy winner that had not yet qualified for the World Championship.

In this regard, the relevant reference is the 2025 CAHB African Women's Junior Handball Championship, in which Algeria finished in fifth place - the highest-ranked African team that had not secured World Championship qualification through the continental pathway. As a result, Algeria will participate in the 2026 IHF Women's Junior World Championship. 

 

The 2026 IHF Women's Youth (U18) World Championship, set to take place in Romania from 29 July to 9 August 2026, has also seen a change to its participant list. Following Paraguay's decision to decline their qualified place, and with both Chile and Venezuela subsequently also declining when the place was offered, the IHF applied Article 1.1.3 of its Rules and Regulations to determine the rightful recipient.

Under this provision, the first reassigned place is awarded to the Continental Confederation of the reigning World Champion, which must then allocate it based on performance criteria. As Spain, the defending champions, are a European nation, and Europe was the continental confederation from which the original qualification slot had been reduced, the place passed to the next best-ranked confederation from the previous World Championship. In accordance with this process, Portugal have been confirmed as the final participant, having finished 15th at the W17 EHF EURO 2025, the highest-ranked non-qualified European side.

 

Portugal's inclusion adds further European depth to an already strong field and rounds out the 32-team line-up ahead of what is set to be a memorable edition of the competition on Romanian soil.

They will start the competition in Group D, where Montenegro, Argentina and the Netherlands were already slotted in.