IHF grants Germany wild card to enter World Championship 2015

On Tuesday's (8 July) meeting in Zagreb the Council of the International Handball Federation decided to grant Germany a wild card to the World Championship 2015 in Qatar.

The 2007 world champions had originally missed the final tournament after losing to Poland in the decisive play-offs in June this year.

The decision of the IHF Council was preceded by a discussion on the situation of handball in Oceania.

"There is currently no Continental Confederation in Oceania recognized by the International Handball Federation. Hence, the IHF Council decided to allocate the spot reserved for this continent to another National Federation on the principle of a wild card," a report published today reads on the IHF website.

"The criterion taken into consideration when awarding was the ranking on the previous World Championship. The Council decided to award this place to the best-ranked team on the 2013 World Championship in Spain that has not obtained the right to participate through the continental qualifications, which is the national team of Germany. Germany ranked 5th in Spain in 2013," the report concludes.

The decision hence also means that Australia will not participate at the 2015 event.

"Now it's up to us to prove that we are worthy participants," said German Handball Federation President Bernhard Bauer in a first reaction. 

The draw for the World Championship 2015 will take place on 20 July in Doha, Qatar.

The full overview of participants is as follows

Defending champions: Spain
Hosts: Qatar
Europe: France, Denmark, Croatia, Poland, Belarus, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Sweden, Germany
Asia: Bahrain, Iran, United Arab Emirates
Pan-America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile
Afrika: Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt