Men’s World Championship 2021 qualification play-off draw set for 9 March in Vienna

The field for the first 32-team Men’s World Championship is steadily taking shape. Apart from defending champions Denmark, a total of 13 European teams can earn a berth for the 15-31 January 2021 tournament in Egypt.

In fact, three teams have already done so: Spain, Croatia and Norway as the top-three ranked nations from EHF EURO 2020 have confirmed their places on the starting grid for the World Championship 2021.

The 10 remaining tickets go to the winners of the qualification play-off in June, which will be contested in a two-leg knockout format. The first leg is scheduled on 5-7 June, the return leg on 9-11 June 2020.

Draw in Vienna on 9 March

The draw for this play-off will be conducted at the Hilton Hotel in Vienna on 9 March at 19:00 CET and streamed live on the relevant EHF social media channels.

The 20 teams involved in the draw include 16 teams which have not qualified directly through the EHF EURO 2020. The remaining four spots in the draw go the winners of an earlier play-off in April, featuring the four lowest-ranked teams of the EHF EURO 2020 and the four group winners from the previous qualification phase.

The draw will pair each team from pot 1 with one team from pot 2. Teams drawn first play at home in the first leg.

POT 1:

(teams not directly qualified from EHF EURO 2020:)
Slovenia
Germany
Portugal
Sweden
Austria
Hungary
Belarus
Iceland
Czech Republic
France

POT 2:

(teams not directly qualified from EHF EURO 2020:)
North Macedonia
Switzerland
Netherlands
Montenegro
Ukraine
Serbia
(winners of qualification phase 2 part 1 matches on 15/16 and 18/19 April:)
Turkey or Russia
Romania or Bosnia Herzegovina
Poland or Lithuania
Israel or Latvia