The Qatar national handball team is controlled by the Qatar Handball Association and take part in international handball competitions.
Qatar is one of the strongest teams in Asia having the second most Asian Championships after South Korea. They also have the distinction of being the only non-European side to reach the final of the Men's World Handball Championship, when they finished as runners-up at the 2015 edition, losing to France in a close contest (22–25) on home soil. The tournament was however seen as controversial, as a large number of players in the Qatar team had been naturalised in the years leading up to the championship.
Honours Asian Men's Handball Championship: Winners: 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024
Asian Games: Winners: 2014, 2018
Results Summer Olympics 2016 – 8th place
World Championship 2003 – 16th place 2005 – 21st place 2007 – 23rd place 2013 – 20th place 2015 – 2nd place 2017 – 8th place 2019 – 13th place 2021 – 8th place 2023 – 22nd place 2025 – 21st place 2027 – Qualified
Asian Championship 1983 – 6th place 1987 – 6th place 1989 – 6th place 1991 – 4th place 1993 – 7th place 2002 – 2nd place 2004 – 3rd place 2006 – 3rd place 2008 – 5th place 2010 – 5th place 2012 – 2nd place 2014 – 1st place 2016 – 1st place 2018 – 1st place 2020 – 1st place 2022 – 1st place 2024 – 1st place 2026 – 2nd place
Current squad Squad for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship.
Head coach: Veselin Vujović
Statistics
+ Most Appearances Name Matches 120 120 120 111 111 109 107 104 101 96 95 94
+ Top Scorers Name Goals 435 404 381 345 335 333 288 274 271 259 254
Controversy
Player naturalisation The Qatari national team naturalized a large number of foreign players to their squad for the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship.
According to IHF rules, to gain eligibility for a new national team, a player cannot have played for another nation for three years in an official match. This allowed several foreign-born players, including Spanish-born Borja Vidal, Goran Stojanović and Jovo Damjanović from Montenegro, and Bertrand Roiné who previously played for France, to play for the Qatar team at the championship.
Head of the Qatar Handball Federation, Ahmed Mohammed Abdulrab Al Shaabi, acknowledged the policy in a statement in June 2013, saying "We're a small nation with limited human resources, so we had to bring players from outside in the past." He also announced an end to the policy at the time, adding however that they "[might] make an exception only in the case of an experienced goalkeeper." In January 2014, Danish sports agent Mads Winther said he had met with "contacts involved with Qatar" regarding the possibility of naturalising Danish players.
The practice was criticised by Austrian goalkeeper Thomas Bauer after his team's loss to Qatar in the quarter-final, saying "It [felt] like playing against a world selection team" and "I think it is not the sense of a world championship." At a press conference during the championship, Qatar head coach Valero Rivera declined to comment on the matter. Spanish player Joan Cañellas did not think it was an issue, saying "If they can do it, why not."
After the controversial semi-final against Poland, and reaching the final as a result, the practice was even more criticised, with players such as Danijel Šarić having now represented four different national teams.
Paid fans Qatar flew in about 60 Spanish fans to cheer for Qatar during the 2015 World Championship.
Accusation Refereeing favouritism The referees were widely accused of being one-sided in favour of Qatar during its success, 2nd place in the 2015 World Championship. Especially at the last-16 encounter against Austria,Team, Fans und Schiris gekauft? (German)Handball-WM in Katar: Österreich hält sich für verpfiffen (German)Österreich von Referees und Katar aus WM gekickt (German) the quarterfinal against Germany Reaktionen auf deutsches WM-Aus: "Man muss aufpassen, was man sagt" (German)WM-Aus der deutschen Handballer: "Im Schiedsrichterwesen gibt es Grauzonen" (German) and the semi-final against Poland.Sramotno: Pogledajte trenutak kad su srpski suci pretjerali s navlačenjem za Katar (Croatian) Polský smutek. Katar je ve finále MS v házené, pomohli mu rozhodčí (Czech)Polska – Katar – czemu Katar awansował? Kontrowersje wokół drużyny gospodarzy, nie byli faworytami (Polish)Michał Jurecki: Każdy wie, co tutaj się dzieje... (Polish) After the final whistle, the Polish players showed their disgust by sarcastically applauding the three referees.
References
External links
IHF profile