# 2027 World Men's Handball Championship

The 2027 IHF World Men's Handball Championship, will be the 30th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. It will take place in Germany in January 2027. Denmark is the four time defending champion.

## Bidding process

Five nations expressed interest in hosting the tournament. The awarding of the events took place at the next IHF Council meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on 28 February 2020. Germany was chosen as the host. This will be the sixth time Germany will host this tournament.
* Croatia/ Denmark/ Norway
* Hungary
* Germany

## Qualification

Qualification system will still depend on number of compulsory and performance places, as for 2025 World Championship. The World Championship hosts will be directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. The number of compulsory places awarded to other continental confederation keeps unchanged and is divided as follows: four places each for Europe, Asia and Africa, three places for the South and Central America zone and one place for the North America and Caribbean zone. One additional place is available for Oceania, but only when that region's national team ranks fifth or higher at the Asian Championship. If no Oceania team places among the top five at the Asian Championship, the IHF will award an additional wild card. In addition, there will be 12 performance places for the continental confederations, which are based on the teams ranked 1–12 in the preceding World Championship. According to the new qualification system and taking into consideration the results of the 2025 Men's World Championship, 20 out of 32 places are distributed as follows:
| 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 championship |
| Africa | Africa | 1 | |
| Asia | Asia | 0 | |
| Europe | Europe | 10 | |
| North America and the Caribbean | North America and the Caribbean | 0 | |
| South and Central America | South and Central America | 1 | |
| Oceania | Oceania | 0 | |
| Compulsory places for the continental confederations | 17 | | |
| Africa | Africa | 4 | |
| Asia | Asia | 4 | |
| Europe | Europe | 4 | |
| North America and the Caribbean | North America and the Caribbean | 1 | |
| South and Central America | South and Central America | 3 | |
| Oceania | Oceania | 1 | Place allocated to Oceania or an additional free wild card |
| Wild card | 1 | |
| Total | 32 | |
    $^1$All hosting federations are automatically entitled to take part in the World Championship. If there is more than one organiser from the same continental confederation, the number of compulsory places of the respective confederation shall be reduced accordingly. If there is more than one organiser and the organisers are not from the same confederation, the IHF Council shall decide about the reduction of the compulsory places, considering only the compulsory places of the confederations involved.
    $^2$The reigning world champion automatically qualifies for the next World Championship and, as a rule, is placed first in the first performance row. In case the reigning world champion is also hosting the next World Championship, the confederation of the reigning world champion obtains one additional performance place.
    $^3$The compulsory place for Oceania is subject to fulfilling certain conditions. The continental confederation of Oceania does not have a direct compulsory place for a confederational qualification event. The confederation of Oceania is invited to participate in the Asian qualification events. The compulsory place is awarded to Oceania if the representative from Oceania is ranked 5th or higher in the Asian qualification. If Oceania fails to rank 5th or does not participate, the IHF Council will award this place as a free wild card.
    $^4$The wild card shall be awarded by the IHF Council.
| Competition | Dates | Host | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host nations | 28 February 2020 | Cairo | 1 | Germany |
| 2025 World Championship | 14 January – 2 February 2025 | Croatia Denmark Norway | 1 | Denmark |
| 2026 European Men's Handball Championship | 15 January – 1 February 2026 | Denmark Norway Sweden | 3 | |
| 2026 African Men's Handball Championship | TBD | Rwanda | 5 | |
| 2026 Asian Men's Handball Championship | TBD | TBD | 4 | |
| 2026 South and Central American Men's Handball Championship | TBD | TBD | 4 | |
| 2026 Nor.Ca. Men's Handball Championship | TBD | TBD | 1 | |
| European qualification | TBD | Various | 11 | |
| Oceania | TBD | TBD | 1 | |
| Wild card | 18 October 2018 | Doha | 1 | United States |
^ 1. If countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships finish within the top 5, they will qualify for the World Championships. If they finish placed sixth or lower, the place would have been transferred to the wild card spot.
^ 2. To bear in mind the 2028 Summer Olympics, the IHF Council awarded the United States wild cards for the 2025 and 2027 World Championships.

### Qualified teams

| Country | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances |
| Germany | Host | 28 February 2020 | 28 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025) |
| Denmark | World champion | 2 February 2025 | 26 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025) |
| United States | Wild card | 18 October 2018 | 8 (1964, 1970, 1974, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2023, 2025) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host country for that year.
    $^2$ From both German teams only East Germany was qualified in 1990

## Venues

At the presentation during the IHF Council Meeting in Cairo, Egypt on 27 and 28 February 2020 the bid delegation presented eight venues. Six venues were ultimately announced in October 2024, with the opening match to be played in Munich and the final in Cologne.
| Cologne | Munich | Kiel |
| Lanxess Arena | SAP Garden | Wunderino Arena |
| Capacity: 19,250 | Capacity: 11,000 | Capacity: 10,250 |
| Hanover | Magdeburg | Stuttgart |
| ZAG-Arena | GETEC Arena | Porsche-Arena |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 6,500 | Capacity: 6,200 |