The IHF Council has decided on 27 March that one of the two wild cards available for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship in Germany and the Netherlands will be awarded to the Chinese Handball Association.

The People’s Republic of China submitted a request for a wild card and, following the proposal of the IHF Executive Committee, the request was presented to the IHF Council, which considered the importance of the development of handball in Asia in general and the Chinese market in particular, taking into account that the People’s Republic of China has been part of the IHF New Markets’ Project for many years.

Based on their good performances in the previous editions of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship – where China won against Czechia and North Macedonia and finished 15th – and of the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship – where the Asian side finished also on the 15th place – the consideration was that China have made notable steps in their development.

Therefore, the IHF Council approved the request, with one of the two wild cards for the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship in Germany and the Netherlands being awarded to the People’s Republic of China.

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, 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.