2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship

2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Bulgaria
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	11–16 March
Teams	8 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Great Britain (1st title)
Runners-up	Bulgaria
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Nigeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	20
Goals scored	1,128 (56.4 per match)
Attendance	3,590 (180 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Svetlin Dimitrov (51 goals)
Awards
Best player	Svetlin Dimitrov
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The 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Handball Championship was the fifth edition of the IHF Emerging Nations Championship held in Bulgaria under the aegis of International Handball Federation from 11 to 16 March 2025. ^[1]

Great Britain defeated Bulgaria in the final to capture their first title. ^[2]

Participating teams

Country	Previous appearances
Azerbaijan	3 (2017, 2019, 2023)
Bulgaria	4 (2015, 2017 , 2019, 2023 )
Cyprus	2 (2017, 2023)
Great Britain	4 (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023)
Moldova	3 (2015, 2017, 2023)
Nigeria	2 (2019, 2023)
Paraguay	0 (debut)
United States	1 (2019)

¹Bold indicates champion for that year. Italics indicates host.

Draw

The draw was held on 28 January 2025 in Oslo. ^{[1] [3]}

Seeding

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
United States   Cyprus	Bulgaria   Azerbaijan	Nigeria   Great Britain	Moldova   Paraguay

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+2). ^[4]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bulgaria (H)	3	3	0	0	104	59	+45	6	Semifinals
2	Great Britain	3	2	0	1	92	85	+7	4
3	Paraguay	3	1	0	2	75	91	−16	2	5–8th place semifinals
4	Cyprus	3	0	0	3	65	101	−36	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Hosts

11 March 2025 18:30	Bulgaria	35–18	Paraguay	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 350 Referees: Balvan, El-Saied, Cournil
	Sv. Dimitrov 12	(19–10)	Ríos, Viana 4
	3×	Report	3×

11 March 2025 20:45	Cyprus	23–37	Great Britain	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 80 Referees: Lončar, Pagh, Ismoilov
	Karkalatos, Paraskeva 6	(15–20)	Pereira, S. Vellenoweth 7
	1× 4×	Report	2×

---

12 March 2025 18:00	Bulgaria	35–22	Great Britain	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 400 Referees: Lončar, Thygesen, Fabryczny
	Sv. Dimitrov 16	(21–13)	Pereira 5
	1× 4×	Report	4×

12 March 2025 20:15	Paraguay	30–23	Cyprus	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 20 Referees: Lončar, Pagh, Ismoilov
	Rojas 8	(14–12)	Tartios 6
	3× 1×	Report	4× 1×

---

13 March 2025 18:00	Cyprus	19–34	Bulgaria	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 400 Referees: Prastalo, Rawicki, Ismoilov
	Melissas, Tartios 5	(10–18)	Sv. Dimitrov 10
	2× 1×	Report	3×

13 March 2025 20:15	Great Britain	33–27	Paraguay	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: El-Saied, Lamour, Fabryczny
	Pereira 11	(17–14)	Martínez 8
	1× 2×	Report	3×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	2	1	0	118	79	+39	5 [a]	Semifinals
2	Nigeria	3	2	1	0	85	70	+15	5 [a]
3	Moldova	3	1	0	2	81	88	−7	2	5–8th place semifinals
4	Azerbaijan	3	0	0	3	60	107	−47	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
Notes:

1. United States 31–31 Nigeria

11 March 2025 13:30	Azerbaijan	21–33	Moldova	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 100 Referees: Doychinov, Fabryczny, Ismoilov
	Musayev 6	(8–14)	Ledeniov 7
	3×	Report	2×

11 March 2025 15:45	United States	31–31	Nigeria	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Goretsov, Lončar, Thygesen
	Amitovic 10	(18–12)	Shagari 7
	1× 4×	Report	5×

---

12 March 2025 13:30	Moldova	26–42	United States	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 100 Referees: Cournil, Balvan, Rawicki
	Zacaciurin 8	(14–18)	Donlin 8
	1× 3×	Report	5×

12 March 2025 15:45	Azerbaijan	17–29	Nigeria	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Prastalo, El-Saied, Lamour
	Guliyev 6	(8–9)	Shagari 7
	3×	Report	3×

---

13 March 2025 13:30	Nigeria	25–22	Moldova	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 60 Referees: Goretsov, Lončar, Thygesen
	Yusuf 8	(14–12)	Baltean 5
	5× 1×	Report	2×

13 March 2025 15:45	United States	45–25	Azerbaijan	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 40 Referees: Balvan, Doychinov, El-Saied
	Binderis 7	(19–11)	Mammadli, Mehdiyev 5
	1× 1×	Report	2× 9× 1×

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	15 March
	Bulgaria	30
					16 March
	Nigeria	23
					Bulgaria	25
	15 March
					Great Britain	29
	United States	25
	Great Britain	29
					Third place
					16 March
					Nigeria	28
					United States	31

Fifth place bracket

	5–8th place semifinals				Fifth place game
	15 March
	Paraguay	34
					16 March
	Azerbaijan	22
					Paraguay	37
	15 March
					Cyprus	28
	Moldova	23
	Cyprus	24
					Seventh place game
					16 March
					Azerbaijan	28
					Moldova	29

5–8th place semifinals

15 March 2025 13:00	Paraguay	34–22	Azerbaijan	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 50 Referees: Goretsov, El-Saied, Cournil
	Rojas 8	(14–8)	Nazaraliyev 6
	1×	Report	4×

---

15 March 2025 15:15	Moldova	23–24	Cyprus	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 80 Referees: Doychinov, Lamour, Ismoilov
	Caraman 8	(11–11)	Karkalatos 7
	4× 1×	Report	2×

Semifinals

15 March 2025 17:30	Bulgaria	30–23	Nigeria	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 550 Referees: Lončar, El-Saied, Rawicki
	Sv. Dimitrov 13	(15–8)	Yusuf 8
	5×	Report	1× 6×

---

15 March 2025 20:15	United States	25–29	Great Britain	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 60 Referees: Prastalo, Pagh, Ismoilov
	Hansen 8	(14–13)	Pereira 8
	1× 6×	Report	1× 3×

Seventh place game

16 March 2025 13:00	Azerbaijan	28–29	Moldova	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 20 Referees: Balvan, Pagh, Ismoilov
	Mammadli, Nazaraliyev 7	(14–20)	Ledeniov 9
	3×	Report	4×

Fifth place game

16 March 2025 15:15	Paraguay	37–28	Cyprus	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 30 Referees: Goretsov, Lončar, El-Saied
	Rojas 8	(17–16)	Hadjipetrou 6
	4×	Report

Third place game

16 March 2025 17:30	Nigeria	28–31	United States	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 100 Referees: Doychinov, Thygesen, Cournil
	Yusuf 13	(14–19)	Hansen, Stromberg 8
	1× 2×	Report	1×

Final

16 March 2025 20:15	Bulgaria	25–29	Great Britain	Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna Attendance: 1,000 Referees: El-Saied, Fabryczny, Ismoilov
	Vasilev 7	(13–15)	Pereira 7
	2× 4× 1×	Report	2× 4×

Final ranking

Rank	Team
	Great Britain
	Bulgaria
	United States
4	Nigeria
5	Paraguay
6	Cyprus
7	Moldova
8	Azerbaijan

Statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Name Goals Shots % 1 Svetlin Dimitrov 51 61 84 2 Faruk Yusuf 40 59 68 3 Francisco Pereira 38 61 62 4 Kristian Vasilev 30 42 71 Jorge Rojas 6 Andrew Donlin 28 39 72 7 Vladislav Caraman 27 46 59 Amar Amitovic 50 54 9 Mihael Ivanov 26 49 53 10 Victor Ledeniov 25 39 64 Gary Phillips 37 68 Source: IHF

Top goalkeepers Rank Name % Saves Shots 1 Nikolay Petrov 41 67 164 2 Ion Saharnean 39 77 197 3 Pal Merkovszky 37 61 165 4 Kylian Ferrier 37 68 185 5 James Adamson 33 8 24 6 Obinna Okwor 33 54 166 7 Martín Giménez 32 52 163 8 Andreas Papalambrianou 29 38 131 9 Huseyn Gafarov 27 43 161 10 Stefan Dimitrov 24 4 17 Source: IHF

All-Star Team

The all-star team and awards was announced on 16 March 2025. ^[5]

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Nikolay Petrov
Right wing	Gary Phillips
Right back	Francisco Pereira
Centre back	Kristian Vasilev
Left back	Sebastian Vellenoweth
Left wing	Louis Christy
Pivot	Andrew Donlin
Best defender	Andrew Donlin
Most valuable player	Svetlin Dimitrov

References

1. "Eight teams to compete at the 2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship". www.ihf.info. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
2. "Great Britain deliver masterclass performance against Bulgaria to clinch title at the 2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship". www.ihf.info. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
3. "Teams find out their fate at the 2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship draw". IHF. 28 January 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
4. "2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship schedule revealed". IHF. 7 March 2025. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
5. "2025 IHF Men's Emerging Nations Championship: All-Star team revealed". competition.ihf.info. 16 March 2025.

External links

• Official website