12 Nations will compete in the 2008 Olympics in China.

6 Places were awarded directly

Host: China
2007 World Champion: Russia
Pan-America: Brazil
Asia: Kazakhstan
Europe: Norway
Africa: Angola

6 Places were awarded via 3 qualification tournaments

Germany
Sweden
Romania
Hungary
France
South Korea

The round robin tournaments were held over 3 days 28-30 March, 2008 and the top 2 teams qualified for the Olympics.

Tournament 1
1) 2nd Place WC (Host): Germany
2) 7th Place WC: Croatia
3) 2nd Place Europe: Sweden
4) 2nd Place PATHF: Cuba

Tournament 2
1) 3rd Place WC (Host): Romania
2) 6th Place WC: Hungary
3) 2nd Place Asia: Japan*
4) 3rd Place from the Continental Championship for the best Continent at WC: Poland

Tournament 3
1) 4th Place WC (Host): France
2) 5th Place WC: South Korea
3) 2nd Place Africa: Cote d'Ivoire*
4) 3rd Place from the Continental Championship for the 2nd best Continent at WC (ASIA): Congo**

* The IHF swapped the locations fro the 2nd place Asia and 2nd place Africa teams
** Qatar declined to participate and the IHF awarded their spot to the 3rd place team (Congo) from the 3rd best continent (Africa) at the World Championships

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.
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,.
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.

Note: If a nation that currently qualifies for participation in a Olympic Qualification tournament by virtue of placing 2nd or 3rd at a Continental Championship finishes in the 2nd to 7th position at the World Championships that nation will vacate it’s Continental Championship position. The vacated that slot will be replaced with the next placed team from that Continent's Championship which has not already qualified via a 2nd-7th place finish. This will have a cascading effect on which teams will qualify. Below is the ranking from the different Continental Championships

World Championships:
1) Russia
2) Norway (Automatic Qual as European Champion)
3) Germany (2nd)
4) Romania (3rd)
5) France (4th)
6) South Korea (5th)
7) Angola (Automatic Qual as African Champion)
8 ) Hungary (6th)
9) Croatia (7^th)
10) Spain
11) Poland
12) FYRO Macedonia

Europe:
1) Norway
2) Russia
3) France
4) Germany
5) Hungary
6) Sweden (2^nd Place Europe)
7) Croatia
8 ) Poland (3^rd Place Europe)
9) Spain
10) Austria
11) Denmark
12) Macedonia
13) Ukraine
14) Serbia
15) Netherlands
16) Slovenia

Pan-America
1) Brazil
2) Cuba
3) Argentina
4) Dominican Republic
5) Mexico
6) Canada
7) Paraguay
8 ) Puerto Rico

Asia (First Tournament Results, Validated by ICAS Ruling)
1) Kazakhstan
2) South Korea
3) Japan (2nd Place Asia)
4) Qatar (3rd Place Asia)

Asia (2nd Tournament Result, Annulled by ICAS Ruling)
1) South Korea
2) Japan

Africa
1) Angola
2) Cote d’Ivoire
3) Congo
4) Tunisia
5) Democratic Republic of Congo
6) Algeria
7) Cameroon
8 ) Gabon

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

IHF News article posting on February 14, 2008. http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=57&idart=1021