In view of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments to be played next March (women’s) and April (men’s), the IHF provides the following updates regarding participating teams. 

In accordance with the IHF Regulations for Competitions, there will be three tournaments with four teams each for each gender. The first and second-ranked teams from each of the round-robin tournaments will qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

Women’s competition

In the women’s competition, the 24th IHF Women’s World Championship currently underway in Japan will decide the last places for the Olympic Qualification Tournaments. 

Already qualified for the Olympic Games are hosts Japan, European champions France, Pan American Games champions Brazil, African qualification tournament winners Angola and Asian qualification tournament winners Republic of Korea. 

Due to France’s elimination in the preliminary round at the 24th IHF Women’s World Championship, as well as Republic of Korea’s in the main round and the completion of the placement matches 5-8, an update on the places at the World Championship to reach the OQTs is now available. 

Tournament 1: 2nd at Japan 2019, Sweden, Senegal, Argentina 
Tournament 2: 3rd at Japan 2019, Serbia, PR of China, Hungary
Tournament 3: 4th at Japan 2019, Montenegro, Romania, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Further updates will be provided as all positions are known at the 24th IHF Women’s World Championship. 

Men’s competition

In the men’s event, the following national federations have secured places at the OQTs.

Tournament 1: Norway, Spain, Chile, Republic of Korea
Tournament 2: France, Croatia, second-ranked nation at the 2020 African Championship, third-ranked side from 2020 European championship (after continental title-holders) not ranked 2-7 at Germany/Denmark 2019
Tournament 3: Germany, Sweden, second-ranked side from 2020 European championship (after continental title-holders) not ranked 2-7 at Germany/Denmark 2019, third-ranked nation at the 2020 African championship

For Tournament 2, France and Croatia will be joined by the second-ranked nation at the 2020 African Championship to be played in January, as well as the third-ranked team from the Men’s EHF EURO 2020, also taking place in January.  

For Tournament 3, Germany and Sweden, will be joined by the second-ranked team at the EHF EURO, and the third-ranked nation at the African championship. 

Should the teams already qualified for the 2020 OQTs or the Olympic Games rank in the top positions at the EHF EURO, the remaining European places at the OQTs will be awarded to the next best-ranked teams at the continental championship.

If one or more teams ranked between 2nd and 7th at the 2019 Men’s World Championship qualify for the Olympic Games at their respective Continental Qualification events, the team ranked 8th (or thereafter) at Germany/Denmark 2019 will be eligible to participate in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

In the men’s category, Japan as hosts, Denmark as world champions, Argentina as Pan American Games champions, and Bahrain as Asian champions, are already qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games. The African Championship in January will determine the direct place for this continent at Tokyo 2020.