The 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship will be hosted by Qatar from 11-27 January, 2015.

24 nations will participate and the 24 spots will be awarded as follows:

1) Host: Qatar
1) Defending World Champion: Spain
12) (3+ 9 Performance places) Europe:  
3) Asia:
3) Africa:
3) Pan America:
1) Oceania: 

Note: 9 Performance places were awarded based on results from the 2013 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)

37 European nations registered for 2015 World Championship Qualification and the EHF approved the following qualification processedure: Link

European Championships (Denmark, 14-26 January, 2014) Link
16 Nations have qualified for the European Championship. Direct tickets will be awarded to the top 3 placing teams.  (Spain (defending  World Champion) has already qualified for the World Championships and will not be factored into the top 3 determination.)  The remaining 12 teams that are at the European Championships will participate in a home and away 2 game playoff in June 2014.

Participants: Denmark (Host and defending champion), Czech Republic, Macedonia, Austria, Spain, Iceland, Hungary, Norway, Serbia, France, Poland, Russia, Croatia, Sweden, Belarus, Montenegro
Euro 2014 Qualification: Link 

European Qualification for WC (Group Play) (October 2013 – January 2014) Link
20 Nations that did not qualify for the European Championships were grouped into 5 double round robin tournaments.  The winner of each group will  qualify for the home and away 2 game playoffs in June 2014.
Group 1:  Lithuania, Turkey, Georgia, Finland
Group 2:  Slovakia, Romania, Cyprus, Italy
Group 3:  Slovenia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Luxembourg
Group 4:  Netherlands, Israel, Greece, Belgium
Group 5:  Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Latvia, Estonia

European Playoffs for WC (June 2014)
The bottom 12 teams (not counting Spain) from the European Championships, Germany and the 5 group winners will be drawn into 9 pairings. These nations will then play a home and away 2 game playoff with the winner of each pairing qualifying for the World Championships.  (Note:  The EHF decided that Germany, as the 2nd best, 3rd place team (e.g. the best non-qualifying nation) during European Championship qualification could proceed directly to the European Playoffs.)

Pan American Qualification (3 Nations)

Pan American Championships (Uruguay, June, 2014)

Note: In September, 2012, the PATHF adopted a new regional qualification system. The PATHF nations were divided into 3 regions and slots were assigned based on the current strength and the desire to spur development.  Each region conducts a tournament for qualification to the Pan American Championships. The 3 regions and their available slots are:

North and Caribbean (Tentatively scheduled for Mexico City, Mexico, 23 February – 1 March, 2014) (4 slots)
Potential Participants:  Barbados, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Greenland, Haiti, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.

Central (San Salvador, El Salvador, 10-14 December 2013) (1 slot)
Participants: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

South (Santiago, Chile, 7-18 March, 2014;)  (5 slots) (This competition will be part of the South American Games)
Potential Participants: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela

(The South region has 5 slots, but one of those slots has been awarded to Uruguay as the final tournament host;  Additionally, one of the South slots will be awarded to a “developing handball nation”.  The practical result of this is that one slot will be reserved for the top developing nation (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) and 3 spots will be available to the remaining nations (Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay)

Pan American Championships ( June, 2014, Location: Uruguay)
Participants:
Host: Uruguay
North and Caribbean:
Central:
South:

 

Africa Qualification (3 Nations)

21st African Nations Championships (Algiers, Algeria, 15-26 January, 2014)
The top 3 finishers qualify for the World Championships.

Qualification: African Federation Regulations calls for 12 Men’s Teams to participate.  1 Bid is awarded to the host, 4 bids to the top four finishers from the previous championships and the remaining bids to the top ranked African Nations based on recent competition results.  African Federation Ranking: Link

Participating Teams (Source:  Link): Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Angola, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Libya (Reserve Nations:  Nigeria, Bénin, Burkina Faso)

Draw Results (9 October, 2013)
Group A: Tunisia, Egypt, Cameroon, Gabon, Libya, Senegal
Group B: Algeria, Morocco, Congo, DRC, Angola, Nigeria

 

Asia Qualification (3 Nations)

16th Asian Men’s Championships (Location:  Manama, Bahrain, 25 January – 6 February, 2014)

Draw Results (6 December, 2013)
Group A: South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, China and Bahrain
Group B: Qatar, Japan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Iraq and Oman

 

Oceania Qualification (1 Nation)  (Location: TBD, Spring/Summer 2014)

In recent years this qualification has been a two game aggregate playoff between Australia and New Zealand