The 1997 World Men's Handball Championship was the 15th team handball World Championship. It was held in Kumamoto, Japan and was the first World Championship not played in a European country. Russia won the championship.
Qualification Competition Dates Vacancies Qualified Host nation 1 1995 World Men's Handball Championship 7–21 May 1995 1 Handball at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament 24 July – 4 August 1996 1 1996 European Men's Handball Championship 24 May – 2 June 1996 4 1996 Pan American Men's Handball Championship 8–13 October 1996 3 1996 African Men's Handball Championship 16–29 October 1996 4 European qualification 20 August – 1 December 1996 6 Asian qualification 30 September – 4 December 1996 3 EHF v OCHF Play-off 31 January – 2 February 1997 1
Venues
The organizing committee used four venues to host the 1997 World Men's Handball Championship:
Group A: Park Dome Kumamoto Group B: Kumamoto City Gym Group C: Yamaga City Gym Group D: Yatsushiro City Gym
Preliminary round The top four teams from each group continue to the knockout stage. The teams are ranked through the following rules. Team with the most points (2 points for each won game, 1 point for each drawn game). If two teams get the same points, the winner in the game between the two teams get ranked first. If the game between the teams ended in a draw, the team with the best goal difference get ranked first.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Final round Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Placement matches
7th place match
5th place match
Semi-finals
Bronze final
Final
Final standings
Medalists GoldSilver Bronze
All Star Team Goalkeeper: Mats Olsson Left Wing: Valery Gopin Left Back: Vasily Kudinov Center Back: Talant Duyshebaev Pivot: Guéric Kervadec Right Back: Staffan Olsson Right Wing: Valdimar Grímsson
References
External links Official report WC97 by todor66