May will bring plenty of action in the handball world, with several high-profile club events taking place, as well as national team action throughout the world.

Undoubtedly, the highlight will be the draw for the preliminary round of the 27th IHF Women’s World Championship, scheduled to take place on 22 May, in s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, at 16:00 CET.

The 32 participating teams will be ready to know their fate and their path towards the big trophy, for the competition which will take place between 26 November and 14 December, in five venues in Germany (Dortmund, Stuttgart and Trier) and the Netherlands (Rotterdam and s’Hertogenbosch).

Moving back on the court, there are several high-profile club events throughout the whole world, with the EHF FINAL4 in the EHF Champions League Women scheduled in Budapest on 31 May and 1 June.

The draw for the two semi-finals took place on Monday, 28 April, in Vienna, and paired Györi Audi ETO KC and Team Esbjerg in one semi-final, with the other semi-final seeing Metz Handball take on Odense Håndbold, as three of last season’s four participants are back in the Hungarian capital.

The second-tier European competitions, the EHF European League Women and the EHF European League Men, will also determine their winners, with the EHF Finals Women and the EHF Finals Men taking place in May.

The EHF Finals Women are scheduled in Graz, on 3 and 4 May, as the semi-finals are played between HSG Blomberg-Lippe and Ikast Håndbold and Thüringer HC and JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball.

The EHF Finals Men is scheduled for 24 and 25 May,  in Hamburg, Germany.  THW Kiel, MT Melsungen, SG Flensburg-Handewitt and Montpellier HB made it to the last act of the competition and will fight for the trophy.

The 41th edition of the African Men's and Women's African Club Cup Winners Championships will take place between 12 and 26 May, in Cairo, Egypt. 11 teams – including powerhouses like Al-Ahly, Zamalek SC or Esperance Tunis - will be at the start of the men’s competition, with 10 women’s sides, with winning candidates like Primeiro de Agosto and Petro Atletico – competing for the trophy.

In the South and Central American Confederation, the best clubs on the continent will face off in Santiago, Chile, in the SCA Women's Club Handball Championship and the SCA Men's Club Handball Championship.

The women’s competition, which will take place between 11 and 16 May, has eight teams at the start, while the men’s competition, which serves as a qualifier for the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, is due to take place between 18 and 24 May.

The national teams will also be active, as the European sides fighting for a place at the Men’s EHF EURO 2026 will take on the court for the last time in the Qualification Phase, on 7 and 8 May, as well as on 11 May, when the sixth matchday is scheduled, with all 24 qualified teams being known at that point.

The 10th Arab Men's Handball Championship is scheduled between 4 and 12 May in Kuwait. The draw saw the teams drawn in three groups. Group A includes Egypt, Iraq, and Bahrain; Group B consists of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia; and Group C is comprised of Kuwait, the UAE, and Morocco. The top team in each group will directly qualify for the semifinals, along with the best second-placed team.

There is a plethora of IHF Trophy events being played around the world in May. The Zone 6 women's youth and junior competitions of the IHF Trophy Africa will be staged in Harare, Zimbabwe from 29 April to 3 May 2025. The Zone 5 women's youth and junior competitions of the IHF Trophy Africa will be staged in Kampala, Uganda from 6 to 10 May 2025.

The Zone 2 women's youth and junior tournaments of the IHF Trophy Africa will be staged in Nouakchott, Mauritania from 13 to 17 May 2025, while Zone 7 women's youth and junior tournaments of the IHF Trophy Africa will be staged in Antananarivo, Madagascar from 27 to 31 May 2025. All these events serve as qualification event for the Continental Phase of the IHF Trophy Africa.

The Central American Zone women's youth and junior tournaments of the IHF Trophy South and Central America will be staged in Tegucigalpa, Honduras from 20 to 24 May 2025.

On the beach, the 10th Asian Men’s & Women’s Beach Handball Championships, is set to take place between 6 an 15 May in Muscat, Oman. The event will also serve as a qualification tournament for the 2026 IHF Beach Handball World Championship, with the top two men’s & women’s teams from the competition sealing their tickets.