| Handball-Weltmeisterschaft der Männer 2027 (in German) | |
|---|---|
 Where handball is alive | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country |  Germany |
| Venues | 6 |
| Dates | 13–31 January |
| Teams | 32 (from 5 confederations) |
The 2027 IHF World Men's Handball Championship , will be the 30th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. It will be held in Germany from 13 to 31 January 2027. Denmark is the four time defending champion. [1]
Five nations expressed interest in hosting the tournament. The awarding of the events took place at the next IHF Council meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on 28 February 2020. [2] [3] Germany was chosen as the host. This will be the sixth time Germany will host this tournament.
The qualification system will still depend on the number of compulsory and performance places, as for the 2025 World Championship. The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. The number of compulsory places awarded to other continental confederation keeps unchanged and is divided as follows: four places each for Europe, Asia and Africa, three places for the South and Central America zone and one place for the North America and Caribbean zone. [4] One additional place is available for Oceania, but only when that region's national team ranks fifth or higher at the Asian Championship. If no Oceania team places among the top five at the Asian Championship, the IHF will award an additional wild card. In addition, there will be 12 performance places for the continental confederations, which are based on the teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding World Championship. According to the new qualification system and taking into consideration the results of the 2025 Men's World Championship, 20 out of 32 places are distributed as follows:
| Distribution of places (following current IHF rules [4] ) | Vacancies | Details | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organisers 1 | 1 | ||
| Reigning world champion 2 | 1 | ||
| Performance places for the continental confederations | 12 | Based on teams ranked 1-12 in the preceding world championship | |
| Africa | 1 | ||
| Asia | 0 | ||
| Europe | 10 | ||
| North America and the Caribbean | 0 | ||
| South and Central America | 1 | ||
| Oceania | 0 | ||
| Compulsory places for the continental confederations | 17 | ||
| Africa | 4 | ||
| Asia | 4 | ||
| Europe | 4 1 | ||
| North America and the Caribbean | 1 | ||
| South and Central America | 3 | ||
| Oceania | 1 3 | Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card | |
| Wild card 4 | 1 | ||
| Total | 32 | ||
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nations | 28 February 2020 |  Cairo | 1 | Germany |
| 2025 World Championship | 14 January – 2 February 2025 |  Croatia  Denmark  Norway | 1 | Denmark |
| 2026 Asian Men's Handball Championship | 15–29 January 2026 |  Kuwait | 4 |  Bahrain  Japan Kuwait  Qatar |
| 2026 European Men's Handball Championship | 15 January – 1 February 2026 | Denmark Norway  Sweden | 4 | Croatia  Iceland  Portugal Sweden |
| 2026 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship | 19–24 January 2026 |  Paraguay | 4 |  Argentina  Brazil  Chile  Uruguay |
| 2026 African Men's Handball Championship | 21–31 January 2026 |  Rwanda | 5 |  Algeria  Angola  Cape Verde Egypt  Tunisia |
| 2026 Nor.Ca. Men's Handball Championship | 11–17 May 2026 |  United States | 1 | |
| European qualification | 29 October 2025 – 17 May 2026 | Various | 10 | |
| Oceania | — [1] | |||
| Wild card | 18 October 2018 | Doha | 2 [2] |
^ 1. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finish within the top 5, they would have qualified for the World Championships. As they finished sixth or lower, the place was transferred to the wild card spot.
^ 2. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council will award the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships, if they reach a certain performance level. [5] [6]
| Team | Qualification method | Date of qualification | Appearance(s) | Previous best performance [a] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Last | Streak | ||||
| Germany | Host nation | 28 January 2020 | 29th [b] | 1938 | 2025 | 15 | Champions ( 1938 , 1978, 2007 ) |
| Denmark | Defending champions | 2 February 2025 | 27th | 13 | Champions ( 2019 , 2021, 2023, 2025 ) | ||
| Brazil | Top four at 2026 South and Central American Championship | 21 January 2026 | 18th | 1958 | 17 | Seventh place (2025) | |
| Argentina | 16th | 1997 | 16 | Eleventh place (2021) | |||
| Chile | 24 January 2026 | 9th | 2011 | 9 | 16th place (2019) | ||
| Uruguay | 3rd | 2021 | 2023 | 1 | 24th place (2021) | ||
| Japan | Semifinalist at 2026 Asian Championship | 25 January 2026 | 17th | 1961 | 2025 | 2 | Tenth place (1970) |
| Qatar | 11th | 2003 | 8 | Runners-up (2015) | |||
| Bahrain | 7th | 2011 | 6 | 16th place (2023) | |||
| Kuwait | 10th | 1982 | 2 | 15th place (1982) | |||
| Egypt | Top five at 2026 African Championship | 19th | 1964 | 18 | Fourth place (2001) | ||
| Cape Verde | 4th | 2021 | 4 | 23rd place (2023, 2025) | |||
| Algeria | 26 January 2026 | 18th | 1974 | 4 | 13th place (2001) | ||
| Tunisia | 18th | 1967 | 17 | Fourth place (2005) | |||
| Iceland | Top six at 2026 European Championship | 28 January 2026 | 24th | 1958 | 9 | Fifth place (1997) | |
| Sweden | 28th | 1938 | 7 | Champions ( 1954 , 1958, 1990, 1999) | |||
| Croatia | 17th | 1995 | 17 | Champions (2003) | |||
| Portugal | 7th | 1997 | 4 | Fourth place (2025) | |||
| Angola | Top five at 2026 African Championship | 30 January 2026 | 6th | 2005 | 2021 | 1 | 20th place (2005) |
Tickets were released at 12:00 CET on 15 December 2025, after the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship final. [7]
On 3 November 2025, the logo was unveiled. [8] The slogan for the tournament was also announced, with it being "Where handball is alive". Mark Schober, CEO of the German Handball Federation, said the following:
"With the 2027 World Championship, we want to revive the enthusiasm of the Winter Fairytale – with a tournament that inspires sporting excitement, connects emotionally, and showcases handball in all its facets, The arenas are places steeped in handball tradition. They stand for passion, closeness to the fans, and the special atmosphere that makes our sport so unique."
At the presentation during the IHF Council Meeting in Cairo, Egypt on 27 and 28 February 2020 the bid delegation presented eight venues. [9] Six venues were ultimately announced in October 2024, with the opening match to be played in Munich and the final in Cologne. [10]
| Cologne | Munich | Kiel |
|---|---|---|
| Lanxess Arena | SAP Garden | Wunderino Arena |
| Capacity: 19,250 | Capacity: 11,000 | Capacity: 10,250 |
 |  |  |
| Hanover | Magdeburg | Stuttgart |
| ZAG-Arena | GETEC Arena | Porsche-Arena |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 6,500 | Capacity: 6,200 |
 |  |  |
The draw will take place on 10 June 2026 in Munich, Germany. [11]
