Following the conclusion of all the Confederation of African Handball (CAHB) regional IHF Trophy events of 2018, the venue, dates and teams have been announced for the IHF Trophy Africa - Continental Phase.

From 8-12 August, Kigali, Rwanda will host the Junior (players born in 1998 and younger) and Youth (players born in 2000 and younger) competitions which feature six nations in each. The winners of each competition in Rwanda will qualify through to the IHF Trophy Intercontinental Phase to be held later this year.

IHF Trophy Africa - Continental Phase

Youth Competition

Guinea (GUI), Nigeria (NGR), Zambia (ZAM), Kenya (KEN), DR Congo (COD), Cameroon (CMR)

Junior Competition

Senegal (SEN), Nigeria (NGR), Madagascar (MAD), Rwanda (RWA), DR Congo (COD), Cameroon (CMR)

How the teams qualified

In the CAHB Africa - Zone II competition, held in Nouakchott, Mauritania (MTN) from 24-29 March, Senegal won the junior competition, beating Guinea 35:24 in the final, while the result was reversed in the youth competition, with Guinea beating Senegal 26:22.

Nigeria made it a double win in the CAHB Africa - Zone III tournament, held in Niamey, Niger (NIG)

from 9-14 April, with the youth team beating Niger 27:25 in the final and the juniors beating Burkina Faso 39:24 in the final.

The IHF Trophy Africa Zone VI and VII combined tournament in Lusaka, Zambia took place from 24-28 April and saw hosts Zambia come from being three goals down at half-time to beat Madagascar 26:23 (12:15) to win the youth final, while Madagascar got revenge in the junior final, beating Zambia 34:21 (17:8).

Kenya won the youth tournament in the CAHB Africa - Zone V competition held in Kampala, Uganda from 14-20 May, beating Ethiopia 22:17 in the final, while Rwanda beat Uganda 32:27 in the junior tournament.

The IHF Trophy Africa - Zone IV tournament, which was supposed to be held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo from 6-10 June, was cancelled in May as only the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon registered national teams for the competition. Subsequently, both the junior and youth teams of each nation qualified directly through to the Continental Phase.

IHF Trophy 2018 – CAHB regional results

CAHB Africa - Zone II

Host City/Nation: Nouakchott, Mauritania (MTN)

Dates: 24-29 March 2018

Winners: SEN (Junior), GUI (Youth)

CAHB Africa - Zone III

Host City/Nation: Niamey, Niger (NIG)

Dates: 9-14 April 2018

Winners: NGR (Junior and Youth)

CAHB Africa - Zone IV

Host City/Nation: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (COD)

Dates: 6-10 June 2018

Winners: Tournament cancelled, COD and Cameroon (CMR) youth and junior teams qualify directly through to continental stage.

CAHB Africa - Zone V

Host City/Nation: Kampala, Uganda (UGA)

Dates: 14-20 May 2018

Winners: KEN (Youth), RWA (Junior)

CAHB Africa - Zone VI and Zone VII (combined)

Host City/Nation: Lusaka, Zambia (ZAM)

Dates: 24-28 April 2018

Winners: ZAM (Youth), MAD (Junior)

IHF Trophy – Refreshed for 2018

The ever-popular and successful IHF Trophy is an integral and important competition which forms a large part of the IHF mission to grow and develop the game of handball around the world.

The competition gives the opportunity to emerging and developing countries around the world to play in continental and intercontinental international competitions, as well as providing workshops for training and the further development of coaches and referees.

All five IHF continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, Pan-America and Oceania – take part throughout each competition cycle consisting initially of zonal competitions within the continent deciding the final line-up for the men's and women's continental competition.

Earlier this year, and after evaluating the previous years of progression, the IHF announced changes to the system of competition in the IHF Trophy to further boost the project not only at a junior level but also at a youth level with the introduction of the IHF Trophy into both age groups in both genders for 2018.
 

Now the IHF Trophy – Junior Competition will be for players born in 1998 and younger and the IHF Trophy – Youth Competition will be for players born in 2000 and younger.

In addition to expanding the reach of age ranges, the IHF Trophy – for junior teams only – has now been upgraded to a qualification event for the IHF Men’s and Women’s Junior World Championship, while both age ranges for the IHF Trophy competitions have now been fully integrated into the IHF Calendar meaning the men’s and women’s competitions will alternate each year, starting with the men’s competitions this year (2018) and the women’s next year (2019).

As part of the continued support for developing handball nations, the IHF will cover the travel expenses of all teams to the competition venues with invited nations requested to register 14 players per team complete with two coaches and one Head of Delegation.