2016 Olympic Qual (Women)

NOTE:  This projection is based on the qualification process that was used for 2012 Olympics.  The International Handball Federation (IHF) has not yet announced the qualification process for the 2016 Olympics and it’s possible that it could be modified.

12 Nations will compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  Using the 2012 process the 12 spots will be awarded as follows

Host:  Brazil
2015 World Champion:
Europe:
Pan America:
Africa:
Asia:
Winner IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament #1:
Winner, IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament #2:
Winner, IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament #3:
Runner up, IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament #3:
Runner up, IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament #2:
Runner up, IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament #1:

 

2015 World Championships (To be held in Denmark,  December, 2015)

Qualification for 2015 WC: Link

The World Champion will directly qualify for the Olympics and the top 6 finishers will qualify for an IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament.  If, however, a nation later directly qualifies as a Continental Champion their IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament slot will be awarded to the next placing nation.

Here are how the slots will be awarded:
1) Direct Qualification
2) (Qualifies for IHF Qualification Tournament #1) (Host)
3) (Qualifies for IHF Qualification Tournament #2) (Host)
4) (Qualifies for IHF Qualification Tournament #3) (Host)
5) (Qualifies for IHF Qualification Tournament #3)
6) (Qualifies for IHF Qualification Tournament #2)
7) (Qualifies for IHF Qualification Tournament #1)

The continents will also be ranked based on the highest placing team nation from each continent.  This ranking will then be used to determine how the remaining 6 IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament slots will be awarded.

1st Continent:  Receives 2 additional slots for IHF Qualification Tournaments
2nd Continent:  Receives 2 additional slots for IHF Qualification Tournaments
3rd Continent:  Receives 1 additional slot for an IHF Qualification Tournament
4th Continent:  Receives 1 additional slot for an IHF Qualification Tournament
(Note:  Should the Oceania representative place from 8th to 12th at the World Championship, Oceania will take one of the 2nd continents 2 slots)

Hierarchy of Qualification Slots:  A nation can only qualify for the Olympics via 1 slot, but it’s quite possible that a nation could earn multiple qualification slots.  Therefore, a hierarchy is necessary to determine how slots are awarded.   This hierarchy is as follows:

1) Olympic Host Nation
2) World Champion
3) Continental Champion
4) IHF Qualification Tourney Slot (awarded at World Championships)
5) IHF Qualification Tourney Slot (awarded at Continental Championships)

Each time a nation earns a higher qualification slot, the nation directly below them in the rankings of that event moves up to take its place.  With the Women’s World Championships taking place after all thChampionships the practical result of this is a reshuffling of the IHF qualification Tourney slots if a nation previously awarded one of those slots earns a Continental Championship slot.  This is very highly likely occurrence for the European Championships and a lower possibility for the other continents.

EUROPEAN OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION (1 Team)

The 2014 European Championships will be the qualifying event for Europe.

2014 European Championship Qualification (October 2013 – June 2014).  26 nations registered for the competition and were drawn into 7 Groups.  The top 2 nations from each group advance to the 2014 European Championships: Link

Group 1:  Denmark, Ukraine, Austria, Lithuania
Group 2:  France, Iceland, Slovakia, Finland
Group 3:  Montenegro, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal
Group 4:  Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Italy
Group 5:  Sweden, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland
Group 6:  Norway, Romania, Belarus
Group 7:  Russian, Germany, Macedonia

2014 European Championships (Hungary/Croatia, 7-21 December, 2014).
Participants:  Hungary, Croatia

The winner of the 2014 European Championships will directly qualify for the Olympics.  The 2nd and probably, 3rd place nations will qualify for an IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament.  Additionally, a number of European nations will likely earn IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament slots at the 2015 World Championships.  This may result in the 2nd and 3rd place allocations for Europe being awarded to a significantly lower placement in the standings.  This shuffling of slots, however, won’t occur until the final placement results of the 2015 World Championships are known in December, 2015.

 

PAN AMERICAN OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION (1 Team)

The 2015 Pan American (PANAM) Games Handball Competition will be the qualification event for the Pan American region. Qualification for the PANAM games will be conducted regionally.

(Note:  The grouping of nations in the Pan American region for PANAM Games Qualification is substantially different from the grouping used for PATHF Championships Qualification.  In particular, the Caribbean nations and Mexico are grouped with the Central American nations for Olympic qualification.  Additionally, Colombia and Venezuela have the option to participate in either the South American or Central American & Caribbean Games.  Finally, Greenland is not recognized as an independent nation and therefore can not participate in PANAM Games qualification.  More detailed information on Pan American qualification groups:  Link)

South American Games (Santiago, Chile, 7-18 March, 2014): Top 3 teams advance to the PANAM Games
Potential Participants:  Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile,  Ecuador,Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

Central American and Caribbean Region:  3 nations will advance from this region.  The Central American & Caribbean Games is the final qualifier for this region.  Preliminary qualification for that event includes the Central American Games and the Caribbean Cup

Central American Games (San Jose, Costa Rica, 4-8 March, 2013)  5 nations participated in a round robin tournament with the top 3 nations advancing  to the Central American and Caribbean Games
Results
1) Costa Rica 4-0-0 8 Pts
2) Guatemala 3-1-0 6 Pts
3) Nicaragua 2-2-0 4 Pts
4) El Salvador 1-3-0 2 Pts
5) Honduras 0-0-4 0 Pts
Detailed results:  Link

Caribbean Cup (Santo Domingo Dominican Republic, 5-9 November, 2013)  Top 4 teams advanced to the Central American and Caribbean Games
Participants: Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic (Haiti and Venezuela withdrew just prior to the tournament.)  With 4 spots available and 4 nations participating all nations advanced.
Group Play Results
1) Cuba 3-0-0 6 Pts
2) Dominican Republic 2-1-0 4 Pts
3) Puerto Rico 1-2-0 2 Pts
4) Colombia 0-3-0 0 Pts

Final Matches
For 1st: Cuba – Dominican Republic 32-28
For 3rd Puerto Rico – Colombia 35-21

Detailed Results:  Link

Central American and Caribbean Games (Veracruz, Mexico, November 15-30, 2014): Top 3 teams will advance to the PANAM Games.  The 4th and 5th place nations will advance to the 2nd chance tournament.
Participants:
Host:  Mexico
Central America:  Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua
Caribbean: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia

North American PANAM Games Qualification:  Normally, Canada and the U.S. would have played qualification matches to determine the North American representative.  However, since Canada is hosting the PANAM Games the 1 North American slot goes away and the U.S. must qualify via the 2nd chance tournament.

2nd Chance Tournament (Location and date are TBD; likely Spring 2015): 1 Team advances to the PANAM Games
Potential Participants: USA, South (4th place finisher) Central (4th place finisher), Central (5th place finisher)

PANAM Games (Toronto, Canada, 10 -26 July, 2015) 8 Teams will participate.  The winner of the PANAM games tournament will directly qualify for the Olympics.  The 2nd and possibly, 3rd place nations will qualify for an IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament.  Additionally, as Brazil has already qualified for the 2016 Olympics as the host nation, Brazil’s placement in the PANAM Games will not factor into the direct qualification slot or IHF Qualification Tournament slots.

Participants:
Host (1):  Canada
South (3):
Central (3):
2nd Chance Tourney (1):

 

AFRICAN OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION (1 Team)

The African automatic bid will be awarded to the winner of the  22 African Nations Championships, to be held in January, 2016 at a TBD location. The 2nd and possibly, 3rd place nations will qualify for an IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Qualification: African Federation Regulations calls for 10 Women’s Teams to participate.  1 Bid is awarded to the host, 4 bids to the top four finishers from the previous championships and 5 remaining bids to the top ranked African Nations based on recent competition results.

 

ASIAN OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION (1 Team)

Asian Olympic Qualification will likely take place in the Fall of 2015.  (For reference, the 2011 Qualification Tournament was held in China from  12-21 October 2011 with 6 teams participating.)  The winner of the tournament will directly qualify for the Olympics.  The 2nd and possibly, 3rd place nations will qualify for an IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament.

 

OCEANIA OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION

Oceania does not have an automatic Qualification spot.  If the Oceania representative at the 2015 World Championship places from 8th to 12th place Oceania will earn a spot for IHF Qualification Tournament #3.

 

 

IHF QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENTS (6 Teams)

6 additional places will be awarded via 3 Olympic qualification tournaments.  (For reference the 2012 qualification tournaments took place on 25-27 May, 2012.)  Each tournament will be a round robin of 4 nations with the top 2 nations qualifying for the Olympics. The slots for the tournaments will be awarded based on results at the World Championships and respective continental championships.

IHF Qualification Tournament #1
2nd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host):
7th at 2011 WC:
1st ranked continent (2nd place at that continent’s Championships):
4th ranked continent (2nd place at that continent’s Championships):

IHF Qualification Tournament #2
3rd at 2011 WC (Tournament Host):
6th at 2011 WC:
2nd ranked continent (2nd at that continent’s Championships):
1st ranked continent (3rd at that continent’s Championships):

IHF Qualification Tournament #3
4th at 2011 WC (Tournament Host):
5th at 2011 WC:
3rd ranked continent (2nd at that continent’s Championships):
2nd ranked continent (3rd at that continent’s Championships) or Oceania Champion: