A 2018 IHF Council Decision
In 2018, the IHF Council made a decision to award wild card qualifications to the USA Men and USA Women for the 2025 and 2027 IHF Handball World Championships. The rationale for the decision was to support the development of the USA National Teams in preparation for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (2018 IHF Council Minutes, pages 8-9) This has been widely known for several years and from a USA perspective knowing that the U.S. could count on participation and gaining experience in two major tournaments in the lead up to the Olympics was reasurring. Many sites like the Wikipedia page for the 2025 Women’s World Championships had “penciled” in the USA as one of the already qualified nations.
A Quiet Omission and an Important Condition
Eariler this week, however, the IHF published a news article highlighting an IHF Council decision on 27 March to award a wild card to China for the 2025 World Championships. Quietly absent from the article, however, was a passing mention of the other Wild Card that had been awarded to the USA.
I contacted both the IHF and USA Team Handball for clarification. I haven’t heard back yet from USA Team Handball, but the IHF confirmed that the IHF Council has not awarded the 2nd wild card yet. And, a closer look at the wording for the original IHF Council decision in 2018 includes an important caveat or condition to the wild card award. Namely the award is conditional on the USA national teams having “reached a certain performance level”
What Does a “Certain Performance Level” Mean?
With the October 2018 IHF Council Minutes stating that the USA National Teams will be awarded a wild card provided that they have reached a “certain performance level” one can strongly infer that the IHF Council has assessed that the USA Women have not reached that level. While that level is not defined in any way, it’s hard, if not impossible, to argue that recent results have been satisfactory. Since the 2019 PANAM Games the USA Women have failed to win a match in official competition. And, these are not losses to good or even mediocre European sides. No, these are losses to peer competition in our region, the weakest handball region in the world.
Upcoming NORCA Championship: An Opportunity to Show Potential
All is not lost for the USA Women. Next week they will be competing in the North American & Caribbean Handball Championships, where the tournament winner will receive an automatic bid for the World Championships. I haven’t seen a roster yet, but perhaps with some new players and a new coach, the team can surprise and take home a title. And, barring that show some promise and potential to IHF Council members that will be watching from afar. Maybe the U.S. can even show enough potential to merit a “certain peformance level.” After all, that open wild card has not been awarded to another nation yet.