Handball is in the spotlight at the start of 2025 with the World Championships.
The Men’s Handball World Cup takes place from January 14, 2025 and ends on February 2 in three different countries. The choice fell on Denmark, Croatia and Norway, three quality hosts who no longer have anything to prove in world handball. In detail, two preliminary round groups, one main round group, two quarter-finals, a semi-final, as well as the bronze medal match and the grand final will be played at the Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway. . Two more preliminary round groups and one main round group will take place in Herning in Denmark, while Croatia will host 4 preliminary groups with two groups in Zagreb, one in Porec and one in Varazdin. One main round group will be played in Zagreb and another in Varazdin, the last match played on Croatian soil will be one of the semi-finals at the Zagreb Arena.
For the third time in history, the handball world championship will be contested with 32 teams. The format remains the same with eight preliminary groups from A to H then 4 groups for the main round before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. For this edition, the French team must rebuild itself after its disillusionment during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the reconstruction takes place without the big stars Nikola Karabatic, Vincent Gérard or even Valentin Porte.
Calendar and results of the World Handball Championship
The preliminary round takes place from January 14 to January 21 with three matches on the program for the France teamThe main round will be played from January 21 to 25 for Group I (3 qualifiers from Groups A and B) and II (3 qualifiers from Groups C and D) and from January 22 to 26 for Group III (3 qualifiers from Groups E). and F) and IV (3 qualified from groups G and H).
Groups and ranking of the World Handball Championship
Discover the rankings from the preliminary round to the main round with an update at the end of the matches.
The selected players
Here is the list of French players for the World Handball Championship.
- Guardians: Samir BELLAHCENE (TVB Stuttgart) – Charles BOLZINGER (Montpellier HB) – Rémi DESBONNET (Montpellier HB)
- Left wingers: Mathieu GREBILLE (Paris Saint Germain HB) – Dylan NAHI (Industria Kielce)
- Left backs: Thibaud BRIET (HBC Nantes) – Romain LAGARDE (PAUC Handball) – Élohim PRANDI (Paris Saint Germain HB)
- Center halves: Aymeric MINNE (HBC Nantes) – Nedim REMILI (Telekom Veszprém)
- Pivots: Ludovic FABREGAS (Cap, Telekom Veszprém) – Luka KARABATIC (Paris Saint Germain HB) – Karl KONAN (Montpellier HB) – Nicolas TOURNAT (HBC Nantes)
- Right backs: Dika MEM (FC Barcelona) – Melvyn RICHARDSON (FC Barcelona)
- Right wingers: Julien BOS (HBC Nantes) – Benoît KOUNKOUD (Industria Kielce)