12 Nations will compete in the 2008 Olympics in China.

6 Places to be awarded directly

Host: China
2007 World Champion: Germany
Pan-America: Brazil
Asia: South Korea
Europe (2008 European Championships, 17-27 Jan 2008 in Norway): Denmark
Africa: Egypt

6 Places will be awarded via 3 qualification tournaments
Note: The teams in these tournament will shift depending on who wins the 2008 European Championships

Tournament 1
1) 2nd Place WC (Host): Poland
2) 7th Place WC: Iceland
3) 2nd Place at Europe Continental Championship: Sweden
4) 2nd Place at Pan America Continental Championship: Argentina

Tournament 2
1) 3rd Place WC (Host): France
2) 6th Place WC: Spain
3) 2nd Place at Africa Continental Championship: Tunisia
4) 3rd Place at Europe Continental Championship: Norway 

Tournament 3
1) 4th Place WC (Host) Croatia
2) 5th Place WC: Russia
3) 2nd Place at Asia Continental Championship: Japan
4) 3rd Place at Africa Continental Championship: Algeria

The tournaments will be round robin tournaments over 3 days 30 May - 1 Jun 2008 and the top 2 teams will qualify for the Olympics.

Notes:
1) The 4th team slot in tournament 2 is awarded to the best ranked continent at the World Championship. The best ranked continent is simply the continent the world champion is from.
2) The 4th team slot in tournament 3 is awarded to Oceania if the Oceania representative places 8-12 at the World Championship. Otherwise, this spot is awarded to the 2nd best ranked continent. The 2nd best
continent is simply the continent with the highest placed team after the winning continent. As Australia finished 24th and Tunisia (11th place) was the highest placing non European team, this slot is awarded to Africa
3) If the World Champion or Host Nation wins a Continental Championship, the Continental Championship place goes to the next highest ranked team.
4) If a team that placed 2nd-7th at the World Championship is also the host nation or wins a Continental Championship place then the 2nd-7th ranking from the World Championship is shifted to add the next best placed team. Example: Country X places 4th at the World Championships, but then wins it’s Continental Championships. The 5th place team becomes the 4th ranked team, the 6th placed team becomes the 5th ranked team, etc,. Iceland, the 8th place finisher at the 2007 World Championships would become the 7th place team.
5) If a team that places 2nd or 3rd (for two of the continents) at a Continental Championship has already earned a spot in a qualification tournament by virtue of a 2nd-7th place WC finish, then the next ranked team from the Continental Championship will earn placement in the qualification tournament.

This page was created based on information from this IHF Documentand a conversation with Mr Peter Sichelschmidt, who is a member of the IHF Commission of Organizing and Competition (COC).http://teamhandballnews.com/e107_files/downloads/2008%20Qualification%20(Detailed).pdf