Coming up: Fantastic 2025 to throw off in style
02 Jan. 2025

2025 will certainly be a fantastic year in handball, with the IHF Men’s World Championship scheduled in Croatia, Denmark and Norway and the IHF Women’s World Championship taking place in Germany and the Netherlands.
The first up is the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, the 29th edition of the world handball flagship competition, which is just around the corner, starting in less than two weeks’ time.
This will be the third edition of the IHF Men’s World Championship with 32 teams at the start, continuing the format introduced at Egypt 2021 and also used at Poland/Sweden 2023, with eight groups of four teams each in the preliminary round, as the top three teams in each group qualify for the main round, while the last-placed sides go into the President’s Cup.
The 32 teams will slowly get their preparations underway, as the domestic club competitions will take a break in December, with the qualified national teams already setting their calendars for the preparations after the festive period.
The scene has been set for the start of the competition, with the countdown starting for the two opening matches, which will take place on 14 January 2025 between Italy and Tunisia in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, as well as between France and Qatar, in the Žatika Sport Centre in Poreč.
The Arena Zagreb in Croatia’s capital, as well as the Unity Arena in Baerum, Oslo, in Norway’s capital, plus the Arena Varaždin in Croatia are also getting ready for the world handball flagship competition, with the Unity Arena currently being modified to create the best setting for handball, hosting two preliminary round groups, one main round group, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the medal matches on 2 February 2025.
January will also see two IHF Trophy events taking place, one in Asia and one in Europe, for Under-18 and Under-20 men’s teams.
Four teams will line up at the start in the two events taking place in Asia, which will be played between 3 and 7 January in India. In both the Under-18 and in the Under-20 events, Bangladesh, India, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan will fight for the coveted trophies.
The IHF Trophy Europe will take place between 14 and 18 January, in Prishtina, Kosovo. In the youth (Under-18 competition), six teams will take part – hosts Kosovo, Georgia, Cyprus, Great Britain, Albania and Moldova.
In the junior (Under-20) competition, hosts Kosovo will face Bulgaria, Great Britain and Cyprus.
In European club competitions, the EHF Champions League Women is back after a break longer than a month. The top teams on the continent will finish the group phase, with powerhouses Metz Handball and Gyori Audi ETO KC leading the standings. The first matches are scheduled for 11 and 12 January.
The EHF European League Women, the second-tier European club competition, will also see its group phase throw off, with 16 teams starting the competition. The first matches are also played on 11 and 12 January 2025.