2013 Men's World Championship in Spain – Qualification Europe Draw Results

The 2013 Men's World Championship will be carried out on 13 to 27 January 2013 in Spain.

In total 24 teams will participate at the final tournament, 14 places are reserved for teams from the European Continental Federation. 37 European national federations have registered for the tournament.

Two European teams are already qualified for the event: France as defending champions and Spain as host nation.

Furthermore, the three best ranked teams from EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia (15 to 29 January 2012) are directly qualified for the 2013 Men's World Championship. All other teams participating at the final tournament of the EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia are automatically qualified for Play-Off Europe.

This will apply for 11 out of these 14 the national teams of Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, FYR Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia and Sweden.

The remaining nine European places will be decided in Qualification Europe among teams not qualified for the final tournament of the EHF EURO 2012.

Qualification Europe for the 2013 Men's World Championship in Spain will be carried out in two phases. The draw for Qualification Phase 1 took place on 03 July in Brno/CZE.

Qualification Phase one – Qualification Matches

The qualification phase one will be played in seven groups of three teams each. Six Rounds will be played over three weeks in home and away matches. The winner of each group qualifies for the play-off matches.

Group 1
Austria
Israel
Great Britain

Group 2
Portugal
Ukraine
Turkey

Group 3
Montenegro
Latvia
Belgium

Group 4
Estonia
Netherlands
Finland

Group 5
Lithuania
Switzerland
Italy

Group 6
Greece
Bosnia Herzegovina
Cyprus

Group 7
Belarus
Romania
Luxembourg

Match Schedule

Round 1: Wednesday/Thursday 02/03 November 2011
Round 2: Saturday/Sunday 05/06 November 2011

Round 3: Wednesday/Thursday 04/05 January 2012
Round 4: Saturday/Sunday 07/08 January 2012

Round 5: Wednesday/Thursday 11/12 January 2012
Round 6: Saturday/Sunday 14/15 January 2012

Qualification Phase two – Play-Off Matches

Seven teams from Phase one and the eleven teams from EHF EURO 2012 not qualified for the 2013 Men’s World Championship yet meet in play-off matches. These will be played in a KO-system with first and second leg matches at two weekends. According to a decision of the EHF Executive Committee in March 2003 no double matches in one country shall be allowed.

Match Schedule

Leg 1: Saturday/Sunday 09/10 June 2012
Leg 2: Saturday/Sunday 16/17 June 2012

The nine winners of the play-off matches will qualify for the final tournament of the 2013 Men's World Championship in Spain. The fixtures for Phase 2 – Play-Off Matches will be drawn on 29 January 2012 in Belgrade (SRB).

Markus Glaser from EHF Competitions (Photographer: Alex Wipf)