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.

The competition will see two Preliminary Qualification Matches played, with the winners progressing to the Group Phase, while the losing sides face off in two placement matches in the next two matchdays.

• 17:30 EEST – Preliminary Qualification Match 2: Sydney Uni (AUS) vs Veszprém HC (HUN)
• 20:00 EEST – Preliminary Qualification Match 1: Los Angeles Handball Club (USA) vs Zamalek SC (EGY)

The competition format sees the two teams who received a wild card for the competition - Veszprém HC and Zamalek SC – take on the winners of the Oceania Handball Championship and the winners of the North America and Caribbean Handball Championship respectively.

The opener, scheduled for 17:30 EEST, brings together the winners of the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship and the runners-up from the 2025 edition, Veszprém HC, and Sydney Uni, the Australian team holding the record for the number of appearances in the competition.

Sydney Uni are featuring for the 13th time at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, with their best finish being the 4th place in 2015. However, the Australian side has won only two of their last 11 matches in the competition and were thorougly outplayed in the matches against European teams.

Veszprém HC will bring a stellar cast to the table, including the top scorer from the previous edition, French wing Hugo Descat and the MVP of the 2024 edition, Nedim Remili, the All-Star goalkeeper at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, Emil Nielsen,, as well as Egyptian stars Ali Zein, Ahmed Hesham, Ahmed Adel and Yehia Elderaa.

The two sides have met twice at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, with Veszprém HC winning both matches – 27:19 in the semi-finals in 2015 and 51:15 in the preliminary round in the previous edition, in 2025.

In the second match, a debutant, Los Angeles Handball Club, will face Zamalek SC, who are playing for the seventh time in history at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship.

Zamalek SC have a full cast of Egyptian players, with an average age of 24,2 years old, including rising stars like centre back Ziad Hashad, goalkeeper Youssef Salama, as well as the top goal scorer in the 2022 edition, Hassan Kaddah, who came back to Egypt after a stint in Europe.

On the other hand, Los Angeles Handball Club, coached by Dani Gordo and Morten Olsen, are featuring plenty of American players, as well as Europeans like Maksim Salikov and Andraz Velkavrh, with roughly half of the side who won the NACHC Men’s Club Championship still on the roster.

LA HC will be the fourth USA team playing at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, after New York City Team Handball Club finished ninth in 2019, the San Francisco CalHeat ended up 10th in 2021 and 2023 and California Eagles were ninth and eighth respectively in 2024 and 2025.