Favourites prevail at the African Championship, with four World Championship berths set

The favourites at the 2026 CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship progressed to the semi-finals of the competition, with four of the five qualified teams for the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship having their identity revealed after the conclusion of the main round in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

Following the conclusion of the preliminary round of the competition, eight teams progressed to the main round, but Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Cape Verde were primed to progress to the semi-finals starting with two points. Nevertheless, only one side maintained their immaculate status – Egypt – which won Group I after two more clear wins, 42:28 against Algeria and 48:22 against Nigeria.

The tables turned, however, after the battle for the second semi-final berth fro Group I went until the buzzer. In the first match for Nigeria, surprise winners against Algeria in the preliminary round, Angola dominated and secured a 27:24 win, to put themselves ahead in the battle for the second qualification berth.

But the experienced Algeria waited and dominated Angola from start to finish. Right back Ayyoub Abdi scored eight goals, Hichem Daoud added five more goals, to propel Algeria to a 27:22 win, which proved to be decisive.

The three teams finished with two points each, in a three-way tie, with each beating the other one once, therefore it went to the three-way goal difference, where Algeria had a +3 goal difference, Nigeria had a -1 goal difference and Angola were at -2.

 

In Group II, Tunisia and Cape Verde were the qualified teams, but Tunisia suffered a scare in their maiden match of the main round, when they drew, 29:29, against Morocco. Bilel Abdelli scored nine goals for Tunisia, while Morocco staged a fantastic comeback, being down five goals in the 38th minute, boasting eight goals from Amjad Saa and seven from Mohammed Ezzine.

With Cape Verde and Tunisia in pole-position, after Cape Verde beat Guinea, 45:25, the two teams met in the decider for the first place in the group, which would avoid Egypt and face Algeria in the semi-finals.

It was a match dominated from start to finish by Tunisia, which took a 15:10 lead at the break and never looked back in the second half, with Bilel Abdelli, Islem Jbeli and Anouar Ben Abdallah combining for 23 goals.

Tunisia secured a 37:25 win against Cape Verde and will fight for their 26th medal in 27 editions of the competition when they meet Algeria in the semi-finals on Thursday, 29 January.

Egypt, the winner of the last three editions of the competition, will face Cape Verde, in a rematch of the final of the 2022 edition. Only Algeria (five consecutive times) have won the title at least four times in a row, a performance which Xavi Pascual’s team targets now.

The four semi-finalists – Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt and Tunisia – have secured their place at the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship. For Egypt, it will be the 18th consecutive appearance and the 19th in total at the world handball flagship competition, while Tunisia (18th appearances) and Algeria (17th appearances) are following suit. Cape Verde secured their fourth consecutive World Championship berth.

The fifth berth for the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship will be decided after the Placement Matches 5-8. Nigeria will face Guinea, with the winner of the match playing the decider against the winner of the match between Morocco and Angola.

Photo credit: CAHB