# IHF World Men's Field Handball Championship

IHF World Men's Field Handball Championship was the world championship of field handball and was organized by the International Handball Federation (IHF) in the period 1948–1966. The first edition was organized by the International Amateur Handball Federation (IAHF) the predecessor of the IHF. In total, seven editions were held. West Germany and East Germany did not participate in the 1948 championship due to the end of World War II.

## Tournament

| Year | Host Country | Gold medal game | Gold medal game | Gold medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game |
| Year | Host Country | Gold | Score | Silver | Bronze | Score | Fourth place |
| 1938 Details | Germany | Germany | 23–0 | Switzerland | Hungary | 10–2 | Sweden |
| 1948 Details | France | Sweden | 11–4 | Denmark | Switzerland | 21–4 | France |
| 1952 Details | Switzerland | West Germany | 19–8 | Sweden | Switzerland | 12–10 | Austria |
| 1955 Details | West Germany | West Germany | 25–13 | Switzerland | Czechoslovakia | 13–10 | Sweden |
| 1959 Details | Austria | Germany$^1$ | 14–11 | Romania | Sweden | 18–9 | Austria |
| 1963 Details | Switzerland | East Germany | 14–7 | West Germany | Switzerland | 10–6 | Poland |
| 1966 Details | Austria | West Germany | Round-robin (15–15) | East Germany | Austria | Round-robin (19–15) | Poland |
$^1$: Germany sent a united team composed of players from the GDR and the FRG.

### Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | West Germany | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Germany | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | East Germany | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | Denmark | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Romania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Hungary | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (10 entries) | Totals (10 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |

### National team appearances in the IHF World Championship
#### Comprehensive team results by tournament

Source: IHF official site.

##### Legend

* 1st – Champions
* 2nd – Runners-up
* 3rd – Third place
* 4th – Fourth place
* 5-10th – Fifth to tenth place
* IR – Intermediary round
* PR – Preliminary round
* •• — Qualified but withdrew
* • — Did not qualify
* × — Did not enter
* — Hosts
* flag — Part of corresponding country.
For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
| Team | 1938 (10) | 1948 (12) | 1952 (10) | 1955 (17) | 1959 (7) | 1963 (8) | 1966 (6) | Total |
| Austria | | IR | 4th | 7th | 4th | 5th | 3rd | 6 |
| Belgium | × | PR | • | PR | • | × | × | 2 |
| Czechoslovakia | 6th | × | × | 3rd | × | × | × | 2 |
| Denmark | 8th | 2nd | 5th | PR | 6th | × | × | 5 |
| Finland | × | PR | × | PR | × | × | × | 2 |
| France | × | 4th | PR | 8th | • | × | × | 3 |
| / (West) Germany | 1st | × | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 6 |
| East Germany | | × | × | × | | 1st | 2nd | 2 |
| Hungary | 3rd | PR | × | PR | 7th | × | × | 4 |
| Israel | × | × | × | × | × | 7th | × | 1 |
| Luxembourg | 10th | PR | • | PR | × | × | × | 3 |
| Netherlands | 9th | IR | 6th | PR | × | 6th | 6th | 5 |
| Norway | × | × | • | PR | × | × | × | 1 |
| Poland | 7th | IR | × | × | • | 4th | 4th | 4 |
| Portugal | × | IR | • | PR | × | × | × | 2 |
| Romania | 5th | × | × | × | 2nd | × | × | 2 |
| Saar | | | PR | 6th | | | | 2 |
| Spain | × | × | PR | PR | •• | × | × | 2 |
| Sweden | 4th | 1st | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | × | × | 5 |
| Switzerland | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 5th | 3rd | 5th | 7 |
| United States | × | × | × | × | × | 8th | × | 1 |
| Yugoslavia | × | × | • | 5th | • | × | × | 1 |