The 2003 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Portugal from 20 January to 2 February 2003. It was the 18th edition of the World Championship in team handball and Croatia won the championship.
Venues 9 cities were hosts for the tournament. The final match took place in the capital Lisbon.
TownStadiummax. spectatorsLisbonPavilhão Atlântico15.000Rio MaiorPavilhão Polidesportivo6.500São João da MadeiraPavilhão das Travessas6.000GuimarãesPavilhão Multiusos3.000ViseuViseu Arena2.600FunchalMadeira Tecnopolo2.500CaminhaPavilhão Municipal2.500Póvoa de VarzimPavilhão Desportivo2.500EspinhoPavilhão Multiusos NW2.000
Lisbon Rio Maior São João da Madeira Guimarães Pavilhão Atlântico Pavilhão Polidesportivo Pavilhão das Travessas Pavilhão Multiusos Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 6,500 Capacity: 6,000 Capacity: 3,000 Viseu Viseu Arena Capacity: 2,600 Funchal Caminha Póvoa de Varzim Espinho Madeira Tecnopolo Pavilhão Municipal Pavilhão Desportivo Pavilhão Multiusos NW Capacity: 2,500 Capacity: 2,500 Capacity: 2,500 Capacity: 2,000
Qualification Competition Dates Vacancies Qualified Host nation 1 2001 World Men's Handball Championship 23 January – 4 February 20011 2002 European Men's Handball Championship 25 January – 3 February 20023 2002 Asian Men's Handball Championship 10–19 February 20023 2002 African Men's Handball Championship 19–28 April 20024 2002 Oceania Handball Championship 5–7 July 20021 European qualification 8 January – 9 July 20028 2002 Pan American Men's Handball Championship 10–14 July 20023
First round Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Second round Group I
Group II
Group III
Group IV
Final round 5–8th place semifinals
Semifinals
7th place game
5th place game
Third place game
Final
Final standings
Rank Team 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics Ineligible to qualify for the Olympics: Greenland do not have a National Olympic Committee recognized by the IOC
2003 Men's World Champions CroatiaFirst title
Awards MVP: Christian Schwarzer
All Star Team Goalkeeper: Henning Fritz Left Wing: Eduard Koksharov Left Back: Carlos Pérez Center Back: Enric Masip Pivot : Christian Schwarzer Right Back: Patrick Cazal Right Wing: Mirza Džomba
Statistics
Top goalscorers RankNameTeamGoals 1 Carlos Pérez 64 2 Hussein Zaky 61 3 Ólafur Stefánsson 584 László Nagy 51 Aleksey Rastvortsev 6 Markus Baur 50 Ivan Simonovič 8 Stefan Kretzschmar 48 Florian Kehrmann 10 Petar Metličić 46
Top goalkeepers RankNameTeamSavesShots% 1 Andrey Lavrov 109 325 33.5 2 Henning Fritz 99 256 38.7 3 Arpad Sterbik 97 216 44.9 4 José Javier Hombrados 94 198 47.5 5 Nándor Fazekas 88 231 38.1 6 Vlado Šola 78 196 39.8 7 Dejan Perić 71 180 39.4 8 Sławomir Szmal 69 155 44.5 9 Beno Lapajne 68 188 36.2 10 Kasper Hvidt 68 206 33.0
Medalists GoldSilver Bronze
External links XVI Men's World Championship at IHF.info