Men's World Championship Qualification draw sets up Baltic clash
At a draw event at the EHF headquarters in Vienna on Wednesday 5 July, the pairings for European qualification phase 1 for the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship were revealed - setting up five exciting clashes in November this year.
The 10 teams are competing for five places in part 1 of qualification phase 2, with the winners of each pairing joining Lithuania, Ukraine and Belgium in the next stage.
The first-named team in each pairing has the first home right for the knock-out matches, to be played in the first week of November 2023. The first legs will be played on Wednesday and Thursday 1/2 November, with the second legs on Saturday and Sunday 4/5 November.
2025 IHF Men's World Championship Qualification Europe Phase 1 draw
- Luxembourg vs Israel
- Great Britain vs Finland
- Latvia vs Estonia
- Slovakia vs Kosovo
- Türkiye vs Italy
At the same event, the draw took place for the Men's EHF EURO 2026 promotion round. Although several teams are involved in both qualification tournaments, there is no link between the two, and none of the pairings from World Championship qualification are repeated.
The six teams involved are the four lowest-ranked teams of the Men's EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, plus Qualifiers Phase 1 winner Great Britain, and Cyprus, who were the best-ranked European team in the IHF/EHF Emerging Nations Championship held in Bulgaria in April.
The three pairings will play home and away knock-out matches on 10/11 and 13/14 January 2024, with the winners progressing to the EHF EURO 2026 Qualifiers. The first team to be drawn has the home right in the first leg.
Men's EHF EURO 2026 promotion round draw
- Latvia vs Luxembourg
- Kosovo vs Great Britain
- Belgium vs Cyprus
