2027 World Men's Handball Championship qualification

The 2027 World Men's Handball Championship qualification decided who qualified for the 2027 World Men's Handball Championship in Germany. Qualifying occurred between October 2025 and May 2026. The championship will feature 32 teams for the fourth time. The first game in qualification was played between Cyprus and Turkey on 29 October 2025.

Qualified teams

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- !rowspan=2|Team !rowspan=2|Qualification method !rowspan=2|Date of qualification !colspan=4 data-sort-type="number"|Appearance(s) !rowspan=2|Previous best performance |- ! ! ! !

| align=center| | align=center|2021 | align=center|2023 | align=center|1

| align=center colspan=5|Debut

| align=center| | align=center|1958 | rowspan=2 align=center|2025 | align=center|23

| align=center| | align=center|1958 | rowspan=3 align=center|2025 | align=center|6

| align=center| | align=center|1964 | align=center|2023 | align=center|1

| align=center| | align=center|1997 | align=center rowspan=2|2025 | align=center|2

| align=center|1st | align=center colspan=5|Debut

Slot allocation The slot allocation is as follows: AHF (Asia): 4 slots CAHB (Africa): 5 slots EHF (Europe): 10 slots (including hosts Germany) NACHC (North America and the Caribbean): 1 slot OCHF (Oceania): 0 slots SCAHC (South and Central America): 4 slots Wildcards: 2 slots

Detailed distribution of places (following current IHF rules) Vacancies Details Comments Organisers 1 Reigning world champion 1 Performance places for the continental confederations 12 Based on teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding world championshipAfrica 1 As Egypt ranked 5th in previous World ChampionshipAsia 0Europe 10North America and the Caribbean 0South and Central America 1 As Brazil ranked 7th in previous World ChampionshipOceania 0 Compulsory places for the continental confederations 15 17 compulsory placesAfrica 4Asia 4Europe 4North America and the Caribbean 1South and Central America 3Oceania 0 or 1 Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card Wild card 1 or 2 Total 32

Summary

Summary of qualification process The World Championship host will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. In regards to the 12 performance spots, and based on the results of the 2023 Men's World Championship, Europe receives 10 more spots, while Africa and South and Central America takes 1.

Detailed summary of qualification processConfederationDirect slotsTeams startedTeams eliminatedTeams qualifiedPercentage of entered teams with spots in finalsQualifying start dateQualifying end dateAHF 4+1 14 9 4+1 26.67% 15 January 2026 29 January 2026CAHB 5 16 11 5 31.25% 21 January 2026 31 January 2026EHF 14+1+1 36 20 14+1+1 44.4% 29 October 2025 17 May 2026NACHC 1 4 3 1 25% 12 May 2026 16 May 2026OCHF 0 or 1 1 1 0 6.25% 11 January 2024 25 January 2024SCAHC 4 6 2 4 67% 19 January 2026 24 January 2026Total29784627+1+2 29 October 2025 16 May 2026

Summary of qualified teams Competition Dates Host Vacancies Qualified Host nations 28 February 2020 Cairo1 2025 World Championship 14 January –2 February 2025 1 2026 Asian Men's Handball Championship 15–29 January 2026 4 2026 European Men's Handball Championship 15 January –1 February 2026 4 2026 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship 19–24 January 2026 4 2026 African Men's Handball Championship 21–31 January 2026 5 2026 Nor.Ca. Men's Handball Championship 12–16 May 2026 1 European qualification 29 October 2025 –17 May 2026 Various10 Oceania — Wild card 18 October 2018 Doha2

1. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finish within the top 5, they would have qualified for the World Championships. As they finished sixth or lower, the place was transferred to the wild card spot.

2. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council will award the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships, if they reach a certain performance level.

World Championship

World champion directly qualified for 2025 edition. Denmark won the 2025 World Championship and became the first team to qualify.

Rank Team 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Asia

Sixteen teams competed in the Asian Championship, held in Sabah Al-Salem, Kuwait, from 15 to 29 January 2026. The top 4 reached the world championship. Since the Oceanian representative, Australia, failed to make the top 5 of the championship, Oceania's spot was made into a second wildcard. Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan and Qatar reached the world championship.

Group IGroup II

Bracket

Final ranking

Africa

Sixteen teams competed in the African Championship, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 21 to 31 January 2026. The top five from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Egypt and Tunisia.

Group IGroup II

Bracket

5–8th place bracket

Final ranking

Europe

24 teams competed in the European Championship, Held in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, from 15 January to 1 February 2026. The top four from the championship qualified. Those teams ended up being Croatia, Iceland, Portugal and Sweden. Denmark and Germany qualified automatically as the defending champions and hosts, respectively.

Group IGroup II

Bracket

European qualification

From October 2025 to May 2026, the EHF organised a separate qualification for 10 places.

Bracket The draw took place on 31 January 2026 in Herning.

North America and Caribbean

The championship was held from 12 to 16 May 2024 in Bettendorf, United States where the winner secures the regional ticket. USA were victorious and qualified for the World Championship.

Final

South and Central America

Six teams in the South and Central American Championship, Held at the SND Arena in Asunción, Paraguay, from 19 to 24 January 2026. The top four from the championship qualified. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay would finish in top four and advance to the world championship.

Wildcards After no Oceanian team achieved a top 5 finish in the Asian Championship, two wildcards were given out. The IHF received 13 applications. Below are the confirmed applicants.

On 9 June 2026, the IHF decided to award the wildcards spots to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.https://www.ihf.info/media-center/news/turkiye-and-saudi-arabia-complete-2027-ihf-mens-world-championship-entry-list Both sides were awarded the wildcards based off their "broader contribution of the national federations to the growth and visibility of the sport, as well as focusing on the development of handball throughout the globe".https://www.thf.org.tr/#/haber/dunya-sampiyonasinda-biz-de-variz/12089

Quotes

Notes

References

External links Official website IHF website

2027 World Men's Handball Championship qualification

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