Teams to learn their fate at draw for the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship

02 Mar. 2023

Teams to learn their fate at draw for the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship

The draw for the preliminary round of the 10th IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, hosted by Croatia, will take place on Friday 3 March at 12:00 CET in Croatia.

The 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship will be the first with 32 teams at the start, an increase of eight teams from the previous edition, which was hosted by North Macedonia, with the trophy going to Egypt for the first time in their history.

As the 2021 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be the first time in four years that the best U19 teams in the world will face off. 31 of the 32 participating teams have already secured their berths.
15 teams from Europe are already qualified, with 5 teams from Africa and Asia each, 3 teams from the South and Central American Confederation, 2 from the North and Caribbean Confederation and 1 from Oceania completing the card.
One more spot is reserved for the 2023 IHF Inter-Continental Trophy winner, due to take place between 7 and 11 March in San José, Costa Rica.

The 32 teams participating in the competition have been divided into four pots of eight. As per the Regulations for IHF Competitions, according to Chapter III, Article 1.3.2, the organiser may “assign one team (including the organiser’s team) per group which had previously been assigned to a city”.

The hosts Croatia will be in Group A, which will take place in Varaždin. At the same time, Hungary have been assigned to Group B, Egypt to Group C, Spain to Group D, Denmark to Group E, Norway to Group F, Germany to Group G and Sweden to Group H.

Therefore, Portugal, the only team remaining in Pot 1, will be heading alongside Croatia in Group A.

The draw will see teams from Pot 4 drawn first, followed by Pot 3, Pot 2 and finally Pot 1. The draw will run alphabetically, with the first team being assigned to Group A, the second to Group B, etc.

The 10th edition of the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship will take place between 2 and 13 August in Croatia at four venues – Varaždin, Koprivnica, Rijeka and Opatija. The final and the bronze medal match are due to be hosted by Varaždin.

The draw will start on Friday, 3 February. It will be conducted by the IHF competition director Patric Strub and former Croatia star Igor Vori, the MVP of the 2009 IHF Men’s World Championship. You can watch it here.

2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship draw
Pot 1: Egypt, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Portugal
Pot 2: Republic of Korea, Croatia, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Slovenia, Montenegro, Argentina, Austria
Pot 3: Rwanda, Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Macedonia, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Morocco
Pot 4: Mexico, Burundi, Algeria, Czech Republic, Bahrain, United States of America, New Zealand, IHF Inter-Continental Trophy team

Photo: Croatia 2023