IHF Men's World Handball Championship 2023 Dates, Teams and History

Sports fans are in for a treat as the 2023 IHF Men's World Handball Championship prepares to kick off in mid-January. This tournament will take place until the end of the month, providing some high-octane fun.

Here's everything you need to know about the men's handball championship.

Men's Handball Championship 2023 Dates & Location

The International Handball Foundation (IHF) is set to hold another men's handball championship in 2023. This year's festivities will begin on Jan. 11 and conclude on Jan. 29 with the final.

After Egypt hosted the 2021 tournament, venues in both Poland and Sweden will be used in 2023. Nine different cities across the two countries are serving as hosts throughout the festivities.

Four cities in Poland and five cities in Sweden will hold matches. They are: Kraków, Gdańsk, Katowice, Płock, Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, Jönköping and Kristianstad.

Men's Handball Championship 2023 Teams

A total of 32 teams will participate in the 2023 IHF World Men's Handball Championship. The host countries automatically qualify along with the current World Champion. Then invites are extended to teams from six divisions: Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and the Caribbean, South and Central America, and Oceania.

Here are the 32 teams participating in the 2023 men's handball championship:

Host Nations
- Sweden, Poland

Reigining World Champion
- Denmark

African Qualifiers
- Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia

European Qualifiers
- France, Norway, Spain, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macdeonia, Portugal, Serbia

Asian Qualifiers
- Bahrain, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea

South and Central American Qualifiers
- Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay

North America and Caribbean Qualifiers
- United States

Wild Card Teams
- Netherlands, Slovenia

These 32 teams are split into Groups A-H with four countries in each. Following group play, teams who qualify will advance to the main round with more head-to-head play. Those that advance will make the final round, which features a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament until the lone remaining team is crowned as champion on Jan. 29.

Men's Handball Championship History

There have been 27 IHF Men's World Handball Championships held all-time prior to 2023. The first tournament took place in 1938 in Germany. After a brief break, the championship started up again in 1954 and occurred every 3-4 years. Following the 1993 edition, the tournament moved to a bi-annual schedule.

France is the winningest country in Men's World Handball Championship history with six gold medal wins all-time. They won back-to-back golds in 2009 and 2011, then again in 2015 and 2017. France's other wins took place in 2001 and 1995.

Germany's hosted this event more times (8) than any other country. Sweden's participation as a host in 2023 will mark the country's fifth time serving in this role. For Poland, meanwhile, this is their first-ever championship as a host country.

Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

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