On Thursday, June 23rd at 14:00 pm, the Hôtel de Ville in Paris will host the draw for the 2017 Men’s Handball World Championship. The 24 qualifying teams will find out who their opponents will be in the group stage, as well as the timing and the cities in which they will take place during the rest of the competition. This draw will be broadcast live on beIN SPORTS 3.
Panamerican Championship: And the last 3, makes 23!
After the playoffs in Europe, last week, there was confirmation of the participation of 9 teams in the 2017 Men’s Handball World Championships. The teams are: Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Macedonia, Slovenia and Poland. The Pan-American Championship ended on Sunday in Buenos Aires with a victory for Brazil in the final against Chile (28-24). Both teams, as well as Argentina, in third place, have won their places in France. In total, 22 teams have qualified (as well as, France, the host country). The 24th participating country, Norway received a wild card (invitation) on Tuesday, 21st June from the International Handball Federation (IHF).
The Draw- how it works
The draw for the group stage of the 2017 World Championships takes place this Thursday, June 23rd from 14:00om to 15:00pm at the Hotel de Ville, Paris, in the presence of Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, Thierry Braillard, Secretary of State to the Minister for Cities, Youth and Sports, Martine Berthet, Mayor of Albertville, Pascal Martin, Chairman of the County Council for Seine-Maritime, and Damien Castelain, President of the European City of Lille. The delegations from the qualifying countries and the entire French Team will also attend the ceremony, during which the official ball of the competition will be presented.
The French International, Nina Kanto, the former goalkeeper for the French team, Bruno Martini, Paralympic athletics champion, Timothy Adolphe and the Ambassador for the 2017 World Championships, actress Claudia Tagbo, will be the “impartial hands” who will conduct the draw, which will be broadcast live on beIN SPORTS 3. The 24 participating nations will be shared between in six pots of four teams (see below), according to a hierarchy established by the IHF, which takes into account the results of the latest international competitions. They are then randomly selected to form four pools of six teams. The draw primarily concerns pots 6 to 2, then according to the rules of the IHF, the host country, France (placed in Pot 1 as World Champion title-holders), chooses their group. The other three teams in Pot 1, Germany, Spain and Qatar are drawn after this, and distributed amongst each of the remaining groups.
The composition of the six pools
Pool 1: France, Germany, Qatar, Spain
Pool 2: Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Poland
Pool 3: Sweden, Russia, Belarus, Macedonia
Pool 4: Hungary, Iceland, Brazil, Egypt
Pool 5: Tunisia, Chile, Bahrain, Japan
Pool 6: Argentina, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Norway
