The groups for the inaugural IHF Women’s U16 World Championship will be determined on 24 September 2026, with the draw taking place at 16:00 local time (15:00 CEST) in Cairo, Egypt, on the occasion of the 19th IHF Men’s Club World Championship.

Hosted by Morocco, the first edition of the IHF Women’s U16 World Championship will bring together the world’s most promising young female handball players for a landmark event in the development of women’s handball. The championship is scheduled to take place in Agadir from 16 to 24 October 2026.

The draw follows the IHF Council’s decision to expand the IHF Women’s U16 World Championship and the IHF Men’s U17 World Championship from 12 to 16 participating teams from now on. The increase strengthens the global youth competition pathway and provides more young players with the opportunity to compete on the world stage.

Teams from five continents will take to the court in Morocco, highlighting the global reach of the championship and the continued growth of women’s handball.

The 16 participating teams are:

Africa: Morocco, Egypt, Guinea and Tunisia

Asia: People’s Republic of China, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Europe: Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Russia and Belarus

North America and the Caribbean: Mexico and the United States of America

South and Central America: Argentina and Paraguay

The field includes the host nation Morocco, the two finalists from the 2026 Women’s 16 EHF European Open - Germany and Hungary - as well as representatives from Africa, Asia, North America and the Caribbean, and South and Central America.

The 16 teams have been divided into four pots, with each pot corresponding to a performance row in the four preliminary-round groups:

Pot 1: Germany, Hungary, People’s Republic of China, Argentina.

Pot 2: Morocco, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Paraguay.

Pot 3: Guinea, Mexico, United States of America, Switzerland.

Pot 4: Kazakhstan, Russia, Tunisia, Belarus.

The draw procedure will begin with the fourth performance row, followed by the third and first rows. Teams will be drawn into Groups A, B, C and D in alphabetical order: the first team drawn will be placed in Group A, the second in Group B, the third in Group C and the fourth in Group D.

The second performance row will be drawn last. As hosts, Morocco have the prerogative to assign themselves to a group of their choice in Row 2. The remaining teams from Pot 2 will then be drawn into the available groups in alphabetical order, following the same procedure.

The draw will be streamed live on the IHF Competitions YouTube channel.