Eight teams – including the three previous champions, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia – made it to the main round of the 2026 CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship, but with some big surprises along the way.

In Group A, Algeria, which won the competition seven times, and were the runners-up in the previous edition, were shocked in the opener against Nigeria, conceding a 23:25 loss, after Nigeria took the lead in the 14th minute, thanks to a 4:0 run, and never looked back.

Algeria did manage to cut the lead to only two goals in the dying minutes of the match, but they will face a mountain to climb, after starting the main round with zero points, where they are due to meet title holders Egypt and Angola.

Nigeria ended up on the first place in the group, after taking clear wins against Zambia (36:18) and hosts Rwanda (30:20), and will probably need a win against Angola to cement their position and qualify for the semi-finals, which will also come with a berth for the 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship.

Nigeria’s best finish at the CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship was the fourth place in 1998, which allowed them to make their only appearance at the IHF Men’s World Championship, in 1999, when they ended on the 23rd place.

 

In Group B, reigning champions Egypt had no place for mistakes, delivering clear wins against Gabon (36:25), Angola (41:28) and Uganda (54:13), funelling everything through their wings, which were the best scorers in all matches.

Angola joined Egypt in the main round, but will start on zero points, after they beat Uganda (37:21) and Gabon (33:21).

Tunisia delivered three wins out of three matches in the preliminary round, with dominating performances over Cameroon (41:22), Guinea (35:25) and Kenya (39:21), having the second third attack in the preliminary round, with 115 goals. They were joined in the main round by Guinea, which beat Kenya (36:27) and Cameroon (28:14).

In Group D, Cape Verde, runners-up in 2022 and the fourth-place in 2024, made it to the main round with two points, thanks to their wins against Congo (34:28), Morocco (33:28) and Cape Verde (32:24).

Morocco finished second and will try to turn the tide in the main round, where they start with zero points, thanks to their 52:28 win against Benin and 39:31 win against Congo.

 

The best scorer of the competition is, so far, Guinea’s Natan Jerome Paquiom, with 26 goals, followed by Rwanda’s Yves Kayijamahe, with 23 goals, and Egypt wing Akram Saad with 21 goals.

Egypt’s goalkeeper, Abdelrahman Homayed, is the top goalkeeper of the competition, with 15 saves and a 48.3% saving efficiencty.

The main round of the 2026 CAHB African Men’s Handball Championship will start on Sunday, 25 January, and will end on 27 January. The top two teams in each group will progress to the semi-finals and secure their 2027 IHF Men’s World Championship berths.

The fifth-placed side, which will be decided after two matches in the Placement Matches 5-8, will also secure their place at the next edition of the world handball flagship competition.

Credit photo: CAHB