2017 World Men's Handball Championship

The event was held in France from 11 to 29 January 2017.

2017 World Men's Handball Championship

Championnat du monde masculin de handball 2017
Tournament details
Host country	France
Venue(s)	8 (in 8 host cities)
Dates	11–29 January
Teams	24 (from 5 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	France (6th title)
Runner-up	Norway
Third place	Slovenia
Fourth place	Croatia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	84
Goals scored	4,643 (55.27 per match)
Attendance	553,833 (6,593 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kiril Lazarov (MKD) (50 goals)
Best player	Nikola Karabatić (FRA)
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France, in a clean sweep, defended their title by defeating Norway 33–26 in the final, which secured France their sixth title. Slovenia defeated Croatia 31–30 to capture the bronze medal. Norway (from a wildcard) and Slovenia earned their first World Championship medals ever.

The championship set a record of attendance in total of 540,000 spectators with 23 matches being sold out and with a venue record of 28,010 at both of France's knock-out matches in Lille.

The championship was played at eight venues in Paris-Bercy, Rouen, Nantes, Metz, Albertville, Montpellier, Lille, and Brest. All the venue capacities are the capacity for handball events.

Lille	Paris	Nantes
Stade Pierre-Mauroy	AccorHotels Arena	Hall XXL
Capacity: 27,500	Capacity: 15,700	Capacity: 10,800
Montpellier	Lille   Paris   Montpellier   Rouen   Albertville   Nantes   Metz   Brest
Park&Suites Arena
Capacity: 9,853
Albertville
La halle de glace Olympique
Capacity: 6,500
Rouen	Metz	Brest
Kindarena	Arènes de Metz	Brest Arena
Capacity: 5,700	Capacity: 5,127	Capacity: 4,000

8 venues

Denmark and France were bidding to host the 2017 Men's World Championships. The IHF Council awarded the Men’s and Women’s World Championships 2017 at their meeting on the fringes of the Women’s World Championships in São Paulo, Brazil on Thursday 15 December 2011.

Denmark was the co-host of the 1999 Women’s World Championship and host of the 1978 Men's World Championship. Denmark has also hosted the Women's EHF EURO twice and was awarded with the Men's EHF EURO 2014.

France hosted the Men's World Championships in 1970 and 2001 and was host of the 2007 Women's World Championship.

Twenty-four teams participated in the final tournament. France were automatically qualified as hosts. An additional automatic qualification spot was given to the defending champions, but because this was also France, the berth was given to the next best placed team from the last World Championship, losing finalists Qatar. The remaining 22 available places were for the best teams of each continental qualification tournament, the winners of an additional European qualification competition and an additional intercontinental qualification tournament.

Competition	Dates	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	15 December 2011	1	France
2015 World Championship	15 January – 1 February 2015	1	Qatar
2016 Asian Men's Handball Championship	15–28 January 2016	3	Bahrain   Japan   Saudi Arabia
2016 African Men's Handball Championship	21–30 January 2016	3	Angola   Egypt   Tunisia
2016 European Men's Handball Championship	15–31 January 2016	3	Croatia   Germany   Spain
European qualification	4 November 2015 – 16 June 2016	9	Belarus   Denmark   Hungary   Iceland   Macedonia   Poland   Russia   Slovenia   Sweden
2016 Pan American Men's Handball Championship	11–19 June 2016	3	Argentina   Brazil   Chile
Wildcard		1	Norway

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances1, 2
France	00Hosts	15 December 2011	20 (1954, 1958 ,1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1978, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Qatar	01Finalist of 2015 World Championship	30 January 2015	5 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015)
Bahrain	Semifinalist of 2016 Asian Championship	24 January 2016	1 (2011)
Japan	Semifinalist of 2016 Asian Championship	24 January 2016	12 (1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2005, 2011)
Saudi Arabia	Semifinalist of 2016 Asian Championship	24 January 2016	7 (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2013, 2015)
Egypt	Finalist of 2016 African Championship	29 January 2016	13 (1964, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Germany	Finalist of 2016 European Championship	29 January 2016	23 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 19903, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Spain	Finalist of 2016 European Championship	29 January 2016	18 (1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Tunisia	Finalist of 2016 African Championship	29 January 2016	12 (1967, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Angola	Third place at 2016 African Championship	30 January 2016	2 (2005, 2007)
Croatia	Third place at 2016 European Championship	31 January 2016	11 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Belarus	European playoffs	15 June 2016	3 (1995, 2013, 2015)
Denmark	European playoffs	15 June 2016	21 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Hungary	European playoffs	15 June 2016	18 (1958, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013)
Macedonia	European playoffs	15 June 2016	4 (1999, 2009, 2013, 2015)
Poland	European playoffs	15 June 2016	14 (1958, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Russia	European playoffs	15 June 2016	11 (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013. 2015)
Slovenia	European playoffs	15 June 2016	7 (1995, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015)
Sweden	European playoffs	15 June 2016	22 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015)
Iceland	European playoffs	16 June 2016	18 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Brazil	Finalist of 2016 Pan American Championship	18 June 2016	12 (1958, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Chile	Finalist of 2016 Pan American Championship	18 June 2016	3 (2011, 2013, 2015)
Argentina	Third place at 2016 Pan American Championship	19 June 2016	10 (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Norway	Wildcard	21 June 2016	13 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year
² Italic indicates host country for that year
³ From both German teams only East Germany was qualified in 1990

The draw was held on 23 June 2016 at 14:00 in Paris, France.

Seeding

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
France   Germany   Qatar   Spain	Croatia   Slovenia   Denmark   Poland	Sweden   Russia   Belarus   Macedonia	Hungary   Iceland   Brazil   Egypt	Tunisia   Chile   Bahrain   Japan	Argentina   Angola   Saudi Arabia   Norway

16 referee pairs are selected:

Referees   Argentina Julian Grillo Sebastián Lenci   Czech Republic Václav Horáček Jiří Novotný   Denmark Martin Gjeding Mads Hansen   France Charlotte Bonaventura Julie Bonaventura   France Laurent Reveret Stevann Pichon   Germany Lars Geipel Marcus Helbig   Iran Majid Kolahdouzan Alireza Mousaviannazhad   Latvia Renārs Līcis Zigmārs Sondors

Referees   Lithuania Mindaugas Gatelis Vaidas Mažeika   Macedonia Gjorgji Nachevski Slave Nikolov   Montenegro Ivan Pavićević Miloš Ražnatović   Slovenia Bojan Lah David Sok   South Korea Lee Se-ok Koo Bon-ok   Spain Óscar López Ángel Ramírez   Switzerland Arthur Brunner Morad Salah   Tunisia Ismail Boualloucha Ramzi Khenissi

The schedule was announced on 23 September 2015.

All times are local (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France (H)	5	5	0	0	154	112	+42	10	Round of 16
2	Norway	5	4	0	1	155	124	+31	8
3	Russia	5	3	0	2	139	136	+3	6
4	Brazil	5	2	0	3	121	146	−25	4
5	Poland	5	1	0	4	115	125	−10	2
6	Japan	5	0	0	5	120	161	−41	0

11 January 2017 20:45	France	31–16	Brazil	AccorHotels Arena, Paris Attendance: 15,609 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Porte 6	(17–7)	Toledo 5
	2×  4×	Report	3×  3×

12 January 2017 17:45	Russia	39–29	Japan	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 4,867 Referees: Kolahdouzan, Mousaviannazhad (IRN)
	three players 6	(18–15)	Shida 7
	2×  3×	Report	3×

12 January 2017 20:45	Poland	20–22	Norway	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 5,356 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Daszek 7	(10–12)	Lie Hansen 6
	2×  3×	Report	4×  6×

13 January 2017 17:45	Japan	19–31	France	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 10,500 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Uegaki 5	(9–17)	Fabregas 7
	2×  2×	Report	3×  2×

14 January 2017 14:45	Brazil	28–24	Poland	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 10,171 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Toledo 8	(16–11)	Paczkowski 6
	3×	Report	1×

14 January 2017 17:45	Norway	28–24	Russia	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 9,812 Referees: Gjeding, Hansen (DEN)
	Bjørnsen 7	(15–11)	Soroka 8
	2×  2×	Report	3×  4×

15 January 2017 17:45	France	31–28	Norway	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 10,500 Referees: Kolahdouzan, Mousaviannazhad (IRN)
	three players 5	(16–12)	Sagosen 7
	3×  5×  1×	Report	3×  7×  1×

15 January 2017 20:45	Brazil	27–24	Japan	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 8,326 Referees: Gjeding, Hansen (DEN)
	Langaro 8	(14–12)	Tokuda 7
	1×  2×	Report	3×  2×

16 January 2017 20:45	Poland	20–24	Russia	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 4,961 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	T. Gębala 4	(9–13)	Kovalyov 7
	2×  5×  1×	Report	1×  3×

17 January 2017 14:00	Norway	39–26	Brazil	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 5,943 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Sagosen 7	(18–13)	Chiuffa, Pozzer 6
	2×  3×	Report	1×  6×

17 January 2017 17:45	Poland	26–25	Japan	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 8,655 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Daszek 5	(9–11)	Shida 9
	3×  4×	Report	2×  1×

17 January 2017 20:45	Russia	24–35	France	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 10,500 Referees: Gjeding, Hansen (DEN)
	Shishkaryov 6	(11–16)	Dipanda 8
	1×  3×	Report	2×  2×

19 January 2017 14:00	Russia	28–24	Brazil	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 5,197 Referees: Gjeding, Hansen (DEN)
	Dereven, Shelmenko 5	(14–15)	three players 5
	2×  5×  1×	Report	1×  4×

19 January 2017 17:45	France	26–25	Poland	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 10,500 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Nyokas 7	(13–13)	T. Gębala, Krajewski 5
	2×  3×	Report	2×  3×

19 January 2017 20:45	Japan	23–38	Norway	Exponantes – Hall XXL, Nantes Attendance: 3,621 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Motoki 4	(14–19)	Myrhol 7
	3×	Report	1×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	5	5	0	0	160	115	+45	10	Round of 16
2	Slovenia	5	3	1	1	151	136	+15	7
3	Macedonia	5	2	1	2	139	137	+2	5
4	Iceland	5	1	2	2	128	121	+7	4
5	Tunisia	5	1	2	2	144	144	0	4
6	Angola	5	0	0	5	122	191	−69	0