The time is here and the 19th IHF Men’s Club World Championship will throw off on Thursday, 24 September, in the New Administrative Capital in Egypt, with 10 teams at the start, representing all six continents.

This edition comes with an uptick of two teams compared to the previous two editions, and a new format. So what’s new, what’s old and what’s about to change at the 2026 IHF Men’s Club World Championship?

Three debutants in the line-up

What’s this year’s line-up? Six of the participating teams have qualified via the continental competitions. Al-Ahly have secured their place as the hosts, FC Barcelona are the reigning champions, while Veszprém HC and Zamalek SC are the two teams who secured their participation via wild cards.

German side Füchse Berlin were the runners-up of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League and clinched their place via Barcelona winning the European premium competition. Füchse have featured five times at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship and won the title in 2015 and 2016 and finished second in 2017, 2018 and 2023.

Africa’s representative will be Moroccan side Montada, a debutant, seeing Morocco represented in this competition for the first time since the inaugural edition in 1997. For Asia, the winner of the 2026 AHF Asian Club League Handball Championship was Kuwaiti side Burgan SC, who will also make their debut in the world handball club flagship competition.

Another debutant will be the North American and Caribbean Senior Club Championship, Los Angeles Handball Club, the fourth different American team to play in the competition, with EC Pinheiros and Sydney University Handball Club rounding up the line-up, as winners of the South and Central American and Oceania club competitions.

A new format on the cards

What’s the competition system? This is also one of the changes this year. Previously, it was two groups of four teams each, with the top two progressing to the semi-finals. There are still two groups of four teams each. But with 10 teams participating, there is a twist.

LA HC and Sydney Uni will enter a Preliminary Qualification round, where they face Veszprém HC and Zamalek SC respectively. The winner of these clashes go into the group phase, with the winner of each group progressing to the final, scheduled for 1 October. The second-placed sides will feature in the bronze-medal match, with the podium decided in do-or-die clashes.

Stars to shine once again

Who are the stars featuring at this edition? Undoubtedly, the biggest storyline in the competition is the return of Füchse Berlin, who boast the top player in the world for the last years, Mathias Gidsel. The Denmark right back was the IHF Male World Player of the Year in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and has a claim on this year’s trophy as well, with strong performances for club and country.

Gidsel, the top goal scorer of the 2023 and 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, will feature at his second edition of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship. In the first one, he scored 45 goals and was the top scorer as well as the MVP of the edition.

But it’s not only about Gidsel. FC Barcelona, the reigning champions, have a slew of stars in their squad, who have always shined at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship. Right back Dika Mem has featured in the past eight editions of the competition and scored 119 goals over this period.

Barca will not only bring Mem to the table, but also players like Ludovic Fabregas, Blaž Janc, Timothey N’Guessan or Aleix Gomez, ready to secure a record seventh title in the competition and clinch back-to-back wins at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship.

And then, there is Veszprém. The Hungarian side has arguably one of the strongest sides in the world right now. Starting with the MVP of the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, Nedim Remili, going through the Egyptian armada of Ali Zein, Ahmed Hesham, Ahmed Adel and Yehia Elderaa, and finishing up with goalkeeper Emil Nielsen, the Hungarian side is absolutely stacked in terms of firepower.

Several other Egyptian stars will be representing Al-Ahly and Zamalek, with the former boasting Ibrahim Elmasry, Ahmed Khairi or Omar Khaled, while the latter have Hassan Kaddah and promising talent from Egypt’s younger age categories teams.

A little bit of history

What about the history of the competition? The IHF Men’s Club World Championship was introduced in 1997 and was played in Vienna. That was the only edition to take place in Europe, with Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia hosting the other 18 editions.

The team with the largest number of wins is FC Barcelona, which won the title six times, followed by SC Magdeburg (three), Füchse Berlin and Ciudad Real (two each), Al-Sadd, THW Kiel, Veszprem HC, Atletico Madrid and Teka Cantabria (one each).

Sydney Uni have the largest number of appearances, 13 out of the 19 editions, securing their best finish in 2015, when they ended fourth. FC Barcelona are the only side to have played more than 10 times, featuring in 12 editions, while Qatari side Al-Sadd and Brazilian side Taubate have nine appearances.

The player with the largest number of goals in history is Egypt right back Ahmed Elahmar, who scored 181 goals, followed by another right back, Kiril Lazarov (152 goals) and Tunisia right back Amine Bannour (120 goals). Mem is the only other player who broke the 100-goal barrier.