2025 World Women's Handball Championship qualification

The 2025 World Women's Handball Championship qualification decided who qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship in Germany and Netherlands. Excluding the previous World Championship, qualifying occurred between October 2024 and April 2025. The championship will feature 32 teams for the third time.

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Qualification date	Previous appearances in tournament^[a]
Germany	Co-host	28 February 2020	15 (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Netherlands	Co-host	28 February 2020	14 (1971, 1973, 1978, 1986, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
United States	Wild card	18 October 2018	5 (1975, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995)
France	Defending champion	17 December 2023	16 (1986, 1990, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Argentina	Top three of 2024 Central and South American Championship	29 November 2024	12 (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Brazil		29 November 2024	15 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Uruguay		30 November 2024	5 (1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011)
Tunisia	Semifinalists of 2024 African Championship	4 December 2024	10 (1975, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021)
Angola			17 (1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Senegal			2 (2019, 2023)
Egypt			0 (Debut)
South Korea	Semifinalists of 2024 Asian Championship	6 December 2024	20 (1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Kazakhstan			7 (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Japan			21 (1962, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1986, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Iran			2 (2021, 2023)
Hungary	Semifinalists of 2024 European Championship	8 December 2024	24 (1957, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Norway		9 December 2024	22 (1971, 1973, 1975, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Denmark		11 December 2024	22 (1957, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)

^ Bold indicates champion for that year, Italics indicates host for that year.

Slot allocation

The slot allocation is as follows:

AHF (Asia): 4 slots
CAHB (Africa): 4 slots
EHF (Europe): 17 slots (including the two co-hosts and defending champion)
NACHC (North America and the Caribbean): 1 slot
OCHF (Oceania): 0 slots
SCAHC (South and Central America): 4 slots
Wildcards: 2 slots

Detailed distribution of places (following current IHF rules^[1])	Vacancies	Details	Comments
Organisers^[A]	2
Reigning world champion^[B]	1
Performance places for the continental confederations	12		Based on teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding world championship
Africa		0
Asia		0
Europe		11
North America and the Caribbean		0
South and Central America		1	As Brazil ranked 9th in previous World Championship
Oceania		0
Compulsory places for the continental confederations	15		17 compulsory places reduced by 1 due to having two organisers
Africa		4
Asia		4
Europe		3	4 compulsory places reduced by 1 due to having two organisers from Europe
North America and the Caribbean		1
South and Central America		3
Oceania		0 or 1^[C]	Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card
Wild card	1 or 2^[D]
Total	32

Summary

Summary of qualification process

The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. In regards to the 12 performance spots, and based on the results of the 2025 Women's World Championship, Europe receives 11 more spots, while South and Central America takes 1.

Detailed summary of 2025 World Women's Handball Championship qualification process
Map of each IHF federation.
Confederation	Direct slots	Teams started	Teams eliminated	Teams qualified	Percentage of entered teams with spots in finals	Qualifying start date	Qualifying end date
AHF	4	8	4	4	50%	3 December 2024	10 December 2024
CAHB	4	12	8	4	33%	27 November 2024	7 December 2024
EHF^[E]	15+2	34+2	19	15+2	44.11%	24 October 2024	13 April 2025
NACHC	1+1	TBD	TBD	1+1	TBD%	TBD 205	TBD 2025
OCHF^[F]	0 or 1	1^[G]	1	0	12.25%	3 December 2024	10 December 2024
SCAHC	4	TBD	TBD	4	TBD%	26 November 2024	TBD 2025
Total	28+2+2	TBD+2	TBD	28+2+2		24 October 2024	TBD 2025

Summary of qualified teams

Competition	Dates	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nations	28 February 2020	Cairo	2	Germany Netherlands
2023 World Championship	17 December 2023	Denmark Norway Sweden	1	France
2024 South and Central American Championship	26–30 November 2024	Niterói	3+1	Argentina Brazil Uruguay
2024 African Championship	27 November – 7 December 2024	Kinshasa	4	Angola Egypt Senegal Tunisia
2024 Asian Championship	3–10 December 2024	New Delhi	4	Iran Japan Kazakhstan South Korea
2024 European Championship	28 November – 15 December 2024	Austria Hungary Switzerland	3	Denmark Hungary Norway
2025 Nor.Ca. Women's Championship			1
European qualification	24 October 2024 – 13 April 2025		11
Wild card	18 October 2018	Doha	2^[1]^[2]	United States

^ 1. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council awarded the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships.^[2]^[3]

^ 2. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finish within the top 5, they will qualify for the World Championships. If either finishes sixth or lower, the place would have been transferred to the wild card spot. As New Zealand didn't registered and Australia withdrew before the draw, the place is transferred.

World Championship

World champion directly qualified for 2025 edition. France won the 2023 World Championship to secure their ticket to the 2025 edition.

Rank	Team^[4]
	France
	Norway
	Denmark
4	Sweden
5	Netherlands
6	Germany
7	Montenegro
8	Czech Republic
9	Brazil
10	Hungary
11	Slovenia
12	Romania
13	Spain
14	Croatia
15	Angola
16	Poland
17	Japan
18	Senegal
19	Austria
20	Argentina
21	Serbia
22	South Korea
23	Ukraine
24	Cameroon
25	Iceland
26	Congo
27	Chile
28	China
29	Paraguay
30	Kazakhstan
31	Iran
32	Greenland

Asia

Eight teams competed in the Asian Championship, held at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi, India, from 3 to 10 December 2024.^[5] The top 4 reached the world championship. Since Australia withdrew before the competition started, Oceania's spot was made into a second wildcard. Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea reached the world championship.^[6]^[7]

Group A

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	South Korea	3	6
2	Kazakhstan	3	4
3	China	3	2
4	Singapore	3	0

Source: Asianhandball

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Japan	3	6
2	Iran	3	4
3	India (H)	3	2
4	Hong Kong	3	0

Source: Asianhandball
(H) Hosts

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

8 December

South Korea	33
		10 December
Iran	20
		South Korea	24
8 December
		Japan	25
Japan	30

Kazakhstan	23
		Third place

		10 December

		Iran	22

		Kazakhstan	28

Final standing

Rank	Team
	Japan
	South Korea
	Kazakhstan
4	Iran
5	China
6	India
7	Hong Kong
8	Singapore

	Qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship

Africa

Twelve teams competed in the African Championship, held at the Stade des Martyrs Gymnasium in Kinshasa, DR Congo, from 27 November to 7 December 2024.^[8] The top four from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Angola, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia.^[9]

Group A

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Congo	5	8
2	Egypt	5	8
3	Senegal	5	8
4	Algeria	5	4
5	Cape Verde	5	2
6	Kenya	5	0

Source: CAN

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Angola	5	10
2	Cameroon	5	8
3	DR Congo (H)	5	6
4	Tunisia	5	3
5	Guinea	5	3
6	Uganda	5	0

Source: CAN
(H) Hosts

Bracket

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

4 December

Congo	24
		6 December
Tunisia	28
		Tunisia	18
4 December
		Senegal	26
Cameroon	19
				7 December
Senegal	26
				Senegal	18
4 December
				Angola	27
Egypt	23
		6 December
DR Congo	22
		Egypt	22
4 December
		Angola	36	Third place
Angola	34
				7 December
Algeria	15
				Tunisia	25

				Egypt	22

Final standing

Rank	Team
	Angola
	Senegal
	Tunisia
4	Egypt
5	DR Congo
6	Congo
7	Cameroon
8	Algeria
9	Guinea
10	Cape Verde
11	Uganda
12	Kenya

	Team qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship

Europe

The three highest ranked non-qualified teams secure a ticket to the world championship.

Rank	Team
	Norway
	Denmark
	Hungary
4	France
5	Sweden
6	Netherlands
7	Germany
8	Montenegro
9	Poland
10	Slovenia
11	Romania
12	Switzerland
13	Spain
14	Austria
15	Czech Republic
16	Iceland
17	Faroe Islands
18	North Macedonia
19	Croatia
20	Türkiye
21	Serbia
22	Portugal
23	Ukraine
24	Slovakia

	Team qualified for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship

European qualification

From October 2024 to April 2025, the EHF organised a separate qualification for 11 places.

Bracket

The draw took place on 15 December 2024 in Vienna.^[10]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Switzerland	–	Slovakia	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Italy	–	Romania	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Poland	–	North Macedonia	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Sweden	–	Kosovo	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Slovenia	–	Serbia	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Portugal	–	Montenegro	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Faroe Islands	–	Lithuania	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Czech Republic	–	Ukraine	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Croatia	–	Spain	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Austria	–	Turkey	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr
Iceland	–	Israel	9–10 Apr	12–13 Apr

North America and Caribbean

The championship will be held in 2025 at a date to be determined.

South and Central America

Six teams competed in the South and Central American Championship, held at the Colégio Niterói in Niterói, Brazil, from 26 to 30 November 2024.^[11] The top three from the championship qualified. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay would finish in top three and advance to the world championship.^[12]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Brazil (H)	5	10
2	Argentina	5	8
3	Uruguay	5	6
4	Paraguay	5	4
5	Chile	5	2
6	El Salvador	5	0

Source: Torneoscoscabal
(H) Hosts

Notes

^ All hosting federations are automatically entitled to take part in the World Championship. If there is more than one organiser from the same continental confederation, the number of compulsory places of the respective confederation shall be reduced accordingly. If there is more than one organiser and the organisers are not from the same confederation, the IHF Council shall decide about the reduction of the compulsory places, considering only the compulsory places of the confederations involved.
^ The reigning world champion automatically qualifies for the next World Championship and, as a rule, is placed first in the first performance row. In case the reigning world champion is also hosting the next World Championship, the confederation of the reigning world champion obtains one additional performance place.
^ The continental confederation of Oceania does not have a direct compulsory place for a confederational qualification event, therefore, the Oceanian confederation is invited to participate in the Asian qualification events. The compulsory place is awarded to Oceania if the representative from Oceania is ranked 5th or higher in the Asian qualification. If Oceania fails to rank 5th or does not participate, the IHF Council will award this place as a free wild card.
^ If the teams representing Oceania fail to finish in the top 5 of the Asian Championship or does not participate, the IHF Council will change Oceania's spot into a second wild card.
^ There are ways of qualifying from Europe, via the European Championship or European qualification
^ The Asian Championship acts as qualification for the Oceanian teams.
^ Oceanian teams who enter, participate in the Asian Champiponship to decides their qualification. However, Australia withdrew before the tournament, meaning no Oceanian team qualified.

References

^ "V. Regulations for IHF Competitions (Indoor Handball)" (PDF). International Handball Federation. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
^ "Strategic plan | USA" (PDF). IHF.
^ "Council Meeting No. 3" (PDF). Doha, Qatar: IHF. 18 October 2018. pp. 8–9.
^ "Tournament Summary" (PDF). ihf.info. IHF. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
^ "IHF | Eight teams collide for title at the 2024 AHF Asian Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.
^ "IHF | Japan deal masterstroke performance to seal second AHF Asian Women's Handball Championship title in history". www.ihf.info.
^ "女子日本代表「おりひめジャパン」第20回女子アジア選手権決勝結果韓国に勝利し20年ぶり2回目の優勝！！". 公益財団法人日本ハンドボール協会.
^ "IHF | 12 teams line up at the start of the 2024 CAHB African Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.
^ "IHF | Angola strike gold again at the CAHB African Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.
^ "IHF | Strong sides face daunting challenge in Qualification Europe Phase 2 for the 2025 IHF Women's World Championship". www.ihf.info.
^ "IHF | Powerhouses to fight for title and coveted World Championship places at the 2024 South and Central American Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.
^ "IHF | Brazil confirm powerhouse status and win title at the 2024 South and Central American Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.

External links

[1] Bold indicates champion for that year, Italics indicates host for that year.

[3] All hosting federations are automatically entitled to take part in the World Championship. If there is more than one organiser from the same continental confederation, the number of compulsory places of the respective confederation shall be reduced accordingly. If there is more than one organiser and the organisers are not from the same confederation, the IHF Council shall decide about the reduction of the compulsory places, considering only the compulsory places of the confederations involved.

[4] The reigning world champion automatically qualifies for the next World Championship and, as a rule, is placed first in the first performance row. In case the reigning world champion is also hosting the next World Championship, the confederation of the reigning world champion obtains one additional performance place.

[5] The continental confederation of Oceania does not have a direct compulsory place for a confederational qualification event, therefore, the Oceanian confederation is invited to participate in the Asian qualification events. The compulsory place is awarded to Oceania if the representative from Oceania is ranked 5th or higher in the Asian qualification. If Oceania fails to rank 5th or does not participate, the IHF Council will award this place as a free wild card.

[6] If the teams representing Oceania fail to finish in the top 5 of the Asian Championship or does not participate, the IHF Council will change Oceania's spot into a second wild card.

[7] There are ways of qualifying from Europe, via the European Championship or European qualification

[8] The Asian Championship acts as qualification for the Oceanian teams.

[9] Oceanian teams who enter, participate in the Asian Champiponship to decides their qualification. However, Australia withdrew before the tournament, meaning no Oceanian team qualified.

[redistribution-2] "V. Regulations for IHF Competitions (Indoor Handball)" (PDF). International Handball Federation. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2022.

[10] "Strategic plan | USA" (PDF). IHF.

[11] "Council Meeting No. 3" (PDF). Doha, Qatar: IHF. 18 October 2018. pp. 8–9.

[12] "Tournament Summary" (PDF). ihf.info. IHF. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

[13] "IHF | Eight teams collide for title at the 2024 AHF Asian Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.

[14] "IHF | Japan deal masterstroke performance to seal second AHF Asian Women's Handball Championship title in history". www.ihf.info.

[15] "女子日本代表「おりひめジャパン」第20回女子アジア選手権決勝結果韓国に勝利し20年ぶり2回目の優勝！！". 公益財団法人日本ハンドボール協会.

[16] "IHF | 12 teams line up at the start of the 2024 CAHB African Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.

[17] "IHF | Angola strike gold again at the CAHB African Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.

[18] "IHF | Strong sides face daunting challenge in Qualification Europe Phase 2 for the 2025 IHF Women's World Championship". www.ihf.info.

[19] "IHF | Powerhouses to fight for title and coveted World Championship places at the 2024 South and Central American Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.

[20] "IHF | Brazil confirm powerhouse status and win title at the 2024 South and Central American Women's Handball Championship". www.ihf.info.

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