In 2021, 32 teams will meet in Egypt from 13 to 31 January to vie for the title of world champions at the 27th IHF Men's World Championship. 

QUALIFIED TEAMS
(Last update: 9 July 2020)

Hosts: Egypt (EGY)

Reigning world champions: Denmark (DEN)

Africa: Algeria (ALG), Angola (ANG), Cape Verde (CPV), DR Congo (COD), Morocco (MAR), Tunisia (TUN)

Asia: Bahrain (BRN), Japan (JPN), Qatar (QAT), Republic of Korea (KOR)

Europe: Austria (AUT), Belarus (BLR), Croatia (CRO), Czech Republic (CZE), France (FRA), Germany (GER), Hungary (HUN), Iceland (ISL), Norway (NOR), Portugal (POR), Spain (ESP), Slovenia (SLO), Sweden (SWE)

South and Central America: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BRA), Uruguay (URU)

Wild Cards: Poland (POL), Russia (RUS)

UPCOMING QUALIFICATION EVENTS
(Last update: 26 May 2020)

North America and the Caribbean: Men's NAC Championship, date tbd | Mexico

South and Central America: Last Chance Tournament, 19-25 October 2020 | El Salvador

VENUES

The 2021 IHF Men's World Championship will be played in four venues in Alexandria, Cairo, Giza and the New Capital. 

• Alexandria: Handball Hall Borg Al Arab (capacity: 5,000 spectators)
• Cairo: Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex (capacity: 16,200 spectators)
• Giza: Handball Hall 6th of October (capacity: 4,500 spectators)
• New Capital: Handball Hall (capacity: 7,000 spectators)

MATCH SCHEME

The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four teams. Each venue hosts two groups of the preliminary round, which is played from 13 to 19 January. 

The top three teams of their respective preliminary round groups move on to the main round (20-25 January), while the teams ranked last in their preliminary round groups play the President's Cup. The 24 main round teams are divided into four groups of six teams each. 

The top two teams of the main round groups advance to the knock-out stage, which starts with the quarter-finals on 27 January, then continues with the semi-finals on 29 January. On the final day, 31 January, the match for third place and the gold-medal match are played.

DRAW

The draw will be staged on 5 September 2020, with the place to be confirmed. The performance rows are as follows:

Row 1: DEN, ESP, CRO, NOR, SLO, GER, POR, SWE

Row 2: EGY, ARG, AUT, HUN, TUN, ALG, QAT, BLR

Row 3: ISL, BRA, URU, CZE, FRA, KOR, JPN, BRN

Row 4: ANG, CPV, MAR, South America 4, COD, POL, North America 1, RUS

 

Fans can follow the tournament organisers as they prepare for the competition via Facebook. The official event website is currently in an internal testing phase and will go live soon.