32 teams will learn their fate on Wednesday, 29 May, as they embark on the journey for the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship. In a star-studded ceremony, the draw for the preliminary round of the world handball flagship competition will place in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Croatia, at 19:30 CEST.

After several speeches, from the Local Organising Committees, as well as from the IHF President, Dr Hassan Moustafa, the official mascot of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship will be unveiled, as the draw will then start.

Helping with the draw will be up-and-coming Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanović, the head coach of the Croatia men’s national team, Dagur Sigurdsson, Norway left wing Alexander Blonz and former Denmark handball player, Morten Stig Christensen. Therefore, all the three co-hosts will be represented, underlining that this is the first-ever edition of the IHF Men's World Championship co-hosted by three countries.

The competition will take place in five venues over three countries between 14 January and 2 February 2025. The 14,000-seater Unity Arena in Baerum, just outside of capital Oslo, will be the host of the competition in Norway, while the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark is due to host two preliminary round groups and one main round group.

In Croatia, the Varaždin Arena, the Žatika Sport Centre in Poreč and the Arena Zagreb will host the competition. The Arena Zagreb is due to host two quarter-finals and one semi-final, while the other knock-out phase matches will be played in the Unity Arena (formerly known as Telenor Arena) in Baerum.

Eight teams have already been assigned according to the 1.3.2 article of the Regulations for IHF Competitions, in the case of more than one (1) host nation, the organiser shall assign one (1) team per group, which had previously been assigned to a city, including the teams of the host nations.

Denmark will be playing in Group B, Norway are headlining Group E, while Croatia are due to play in Group H, all on their home courts.

Moreover, the Danish Handball Association reserved the right to place Germany in Group A in Herning, due to Germany being a neighbouring country, with a two-hour drive from the border to Herning and handball-loving communities in Kiel, Hamburg or Flensburg close to the border.

The Norwegian Handball Federation placed Sweden in Group F, due to the same reason, with the Sweden border being a 90-minute drive from the Norwegian capital.

Last, but not least, Hungary will play in Group D in Varazdin, for the same geographical reasons, as well as Slovenia in Group G, in Zagreb. Austria are due to feature in Group C, in Poreč, a popular venue for Austrian tourists for centuries.

Pot 1: Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Norway, Egypt
Pot 2: Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Iceland, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Czechia 
Pot 3: Poland, North Macedonia, Qatar, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Japan, Algeria
Pot 4: Bahrain, Tunisia, Chile, Kuwait, Cape Verde, Guinea, USA, Switzerland