2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship host cities revealed

After a lengthy period of negotiations, the German Handball Federation (DHB) and the Hellenic Handball Federation (HHF) announced in October 2021 that they will co-host the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship – it is the first time this competition will be hosted by two countries since 1979.

As the championship, which is due to be played between 20 June and 2 July 2023, is fastly approaching, the two federations have now announced the four host cities.

Three venues from Germany and one from Greece will host the 32 teams that will take part in the competition, the first IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship edition since 2019 as the one in 2021, planned to be played in Hungary, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hanover, Magdeburg and Berlin are the three cities chosen by the DHB, while Greece’s capital Athens will be the fourth host city, as revealed Thursday by the organisers.

“This tournament will be a milestone for young athletes. We are aiming for full arenas in Hanover, Magdeburg and Berlin. The young top athletes more than deserve that,” says Mark Schober, Chairman of the German Handball Federation, according to the official website of the DHB.

The 4,200-seater Swiss Life Hall in Hanover and the 6,300-seater GETEC Arena Magdeburg will host the preliminary and the main round in Germany, with the final weekend set to be played in the Max-Schmeling Arena in Berlin, which has a capacity of 9,000 seats.

With a total of 116 games, the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship is due to have 64 games played in Germany and 52 in Greece, in the two arenas Korydallos and Sofia Befon.

“It is a dream for us to be able to experience a World Championship in our own country in 2023. This is an additional incentive every day to invest everything for maximum sporting success. We are looking forward to the audience in Hanover, Magdeburg and Berlin,” says Martin Heuberger, the coach of Germany’s junior men’s national team.

The 2023 IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship will be the first edition of the competition with 32 teams at the start. The preliminary round will consist of eight groups of four teams, with the top two places in each group sealing a spot in the main round.

The best two sides in each main round group will then proceed to the quarter-finals, with a team needing to win the last three games to be crowned world champions.

France are the reigning champions after they beat Croatia 28:23 in the final of the 2019 IHF Men’s Junior (U21) World Championship, which took place in Spain.

Photo: DHB