The 2011 Men’s Handball World Championship will be hosted by Sweden in January, 2011. This qualification page will be updated as more information becomes available and assumes that the IHF and Continental Federations will follow the same basic format that was used for 2009 World Championship qualification.

Using the 2009 format, the 24 spots will be awarded as follows:

1) Host: Sweden
1) Defending World Champion: France
3+ 9 Performance places) Europe: Croatia, Iceland, Poland,Austria, Norway, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Denmark, Spain
3) Asia: South Korea, Bahrain, Japan
3) Africa: Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria
3) Pan America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile
1) Oceania: Australia

Note: 9 Performance places were awarded based on results from the 2009 World Championships. Each continent was awarded 1 spot for each nation that placed 1st through 9th. Europe secured all 9 performance places.

European Qualification (12 Nations)

European Championships (Austria, 19 -31 January, 2010)
Direct tickets were awarded to the top 3 placing teams. As Sweden (host) and France (defending champion) had already qualified their placing did not count for these spots. The remaining 11 teams participated in a home and away 2 game playoff in June 2010.

The 16 nations that qualified for the European Championships were:
Host (1): Austria
Defending Champion (1): Denmark
Nations that qualifed via Group Play (14): Sweden, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Iceland, Norway, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia, France, Czech Republic, Spain, and Ukraine
Qualification Results: -link-

Final Ranking
1) France (Already qualified as defending World Champion)
2) Croatia
3) Iceland
4) Poland
5) Denmark
6) Spain
7) Norway
8 ) Czech Republic
9) Austria
10) Germany
11) Slovenia
12) Russia
13-16) Hungary, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine


European Qualification Group Play (11-17 January, 2010)
Following the format from 2008, 7 Groups, consisting of teams that did not qualify for the European Championships played a double round robin. 23 nations were drawn into 7 groups on 6 August, 2009 -link-
The winner of each group qualified for the home and away 2 game playoffs in June 2010.

Group 1: Belarus, Switzerland, Cyprus, Faroe Islands
Group 2: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Romania, Finland, Great Britain
Group 3: Slovakia, Israel, Bulgaria
Group 4: Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium
Group 5: Montenegro, Greece, Italy
Group 6: Portugal, Latvia, Luxembourg
Group 7: Macedonia, Lithuania, Turkey
Results: -link-

Playoffs (12/13 June and 19/20 June 2010):
The bottom 11 teams (not counting Sweden and France) from the European Championships and the 7 group winners were drawn into 9 pairings. These nations played a home and away 2 game playoff with the winner of each pairing qualifying for the World Championships.
Draw Procedure: -link-

Austria vs Netherlands
Norway vs Lithuania
Slovenia vs Hungary
Germany vs Greece
Slovakia vs Ukraine
Serbia vs Czech Republic
Romania vs Russia
Denmark vs Switzerland
Portugal vs Spain


Pan American Qualification (3 Nations)

1st Division Championships (Dominican Republic, 3-7 November 2009)
All PATHF nations, except the top 6 nations from the 2008 Elite championship, were invited to participate the Div 1 Championship. The top two nations from this tournament qualified for the 2010 Elite Championship.

Final Results: -link-
1) Dominican Republic
2) Canada
3) Puerto Rico
4) Mexico
5) Venezuela
6) Colombia
7) Guatemala

Note: The U.S. declined to participate: -link-

The Dominican Republic and Canada advanced to the Pan American Championship

Pan American Championships (Chile, 22-26 June, 2010)
The top 6 nations from the 2008 Championshipships (Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Chile, Greenland and Uruguay) and the top two nations from the 1st Division Championships (Dominican Republic and Canada) participated in this tournament.

Group Play (22-24 June, 2010)
Group A: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Canada
Group B: Brasil, Cuba, Greenland, Dominican Republic

Semifinals (25 June, 2010)
Brazil vs. Chile 33-21
Argentina vs. Cuba 17-8 (Game ended early due to false bomb threat)

Finals (26 June, 2010)
Brazil vs. Argentina 27-28 (for 1st)
Chile vs. Cuba 34-31 (for 3rd)

Final Ranking
1) Argentina
2) Brazil
3) Chile
4) Cuba
5) Uruguay
6) Greenland
7) Canada
8 ) Dominican Republic


Africa Qualification (3 Nations)

19th African Nations Championships, Cairo, Egypt (10-21 Feb 2010) The top 3 teams qualified for the World Championships.
Schedule: -link-

Preliminary Round
Draw: -link-
Group A: Tunisia, Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Libya
Group B: Egypt, Angola, Cameroon, Gabon
Group C: Algeria, Congo, Morocco, Ivory Coast
- Two teams advance from each Group

Main Round
Group I: Tunisia, Angola, Algeria (1A, 2B, 1C)
Group II: Republic of Congo, Egypt, Morocco (2A, 1B, 2C)
- Two teams advance from each Group to semifinals

Semifinals
Tunisia vs Republic of Congo 37-22
Egypt vs Algeria 26-24

Finals
Egypt vs. Tunisia (for 1st) 21-24
Algeria vs. Republic of Congo (for 3rd) 30-22

Final Ranking
1) Tunisia
2) Egypt
3) Algeria
4) Republic of Congo
5) Angola
6) Morocco
7) Nigeria
8 ) Congo
9) Gabon
10) Cameroon
11) Libya
12) Cote d'Ivoire

Results from official webpage: -link-

Asia Qualification (3 Nations)

14th Asian Men's Championships, Lebanon, 6-18 Feb 2010 . The top 3 teams qualified for the World Championships.
Note: Kuwait was excluded from the tournament by the IHF due to their noncompliance with IOC rules

Group A: Saudi Arabia, Syria, China
Group B: Bahrain, Japan, Iraq
Group C: South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Qatar
Group D: Iran, Lebanon, Jordan
- Two teams advance from each Group

Group I: Syria, Bahrain, South Korea, Lebanon (A1, B2, C1, D2)
Group II: Saudi Arabia, Japan, Qatar, Iran (A2, B1, C2, D1)
- Two teams advance from each group to semifinals

Semifinals
South Korea vs. Japan 30-25
Saudi Arabia vs. Bahrain 25-26

FinalsSouth Korea vs Bahrain (for 1st) 32-25
Saudi Arabia vs Japan (for 3rd) 30-33

Final Ranking
1) Korea
2) Bahrain
3) Japan
4) Saudi Arabia
5) Qatar
6) Syria
7) Iran
8 ) Lebanon
9) China
10) Iraq
11) U.A.E.
12) Jordan

Results from AHF webpage: -link-


Oceania Qualification (1 Nation):

A three team, double round robin tournament was held Poriua, New Zealand from 8-10 May, 2010. Australia won all four of it's matches and qualified for the World Championships.

Final Results: -link-

Final Ranking
1) Australia
2) New Zealand
3) Cook Islands


2009 WC Qualification: -link-