News
Five teams eye one ticket to Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 at the 2023 Nor.Ca. Women's Handball Championship
02 Jun. 2023
Five teams will line up at the start of the 2023 Nor.Ca. Women's Handball Championship, the fifth edition of the competition, which will take place in Nuuk, Greenland, between 5 and 11 June, with the winner earning one of the last tickets for the 2023 IHF Women's World Championship.
Canada, Cuba, hosts Greenland, Mexico and the United States will take part in the competition, which will be played in a round-robin format, with the top four teams progressing to the knockout phase.
The bronze medal game will take place on 11 June between the third and the fourth-placed teams in the round-robin group, while the top two teams will face off on 11 June with the title on the table, as the winners will secure the ticket to Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023.
Reigning champions Puerto Rico will not be in the line-up this time around, but the joint-most decorated team in the history of the competition, Cuba, which won the titles in 2015 and 2019, are likely to fight once again to return to the IHF Women's World Championship.
Cuba have featured four times at the IHF Women's World Championship, securing four wins in 26 appearances, with their best result being the 21st place at Denmark/Norway 1999 and at Japan 2019.
Runners-up and hosts Greenland will also be vying for the title, hosting the competition for the first time in history, as they have previously won two medals at the Nor.Ca. Women's Handball Championship, the bronze in 2019 and the silver in 2021.
They have also qualified for the world handball flagship competition only once, in 2001, finishing on the last place.
USA have failed to qualify for the IHF Women's World Championship since 1995, while Canada's last appearance in the competition was at Germany 1997. Mexico, whose best result at the Nor.Ca. Women's Handball Championship was the silver medal in 2015, would make their debut at the world handball flagship competition.
29 teams have already booked their tickets for the 2023 IHF Women's World Championship, which will take place in six venues over three countries – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – between 29 November and 17 December 2023.
The last two berths will be awarded via wild cards by the IHF.