12 German cities are hosts for the 2007 Championship. The most modern and biggest stadiums - spread all over the country - had been selected. The final match is to take place in the Kölnarena on February 42007 in Cologne.
According to the IHF rules, each continent has three places (except Oceania), the host (Germany) and holders (Spain) and the other nine places are allocated to the continents according to performance in the 2005 World Men's Handball Championship. This means that:
The Pan-American qualifying events was scheduled to be held in Brazil in April 2006[2]. However, due to players' commitments with clubs in Europe, it was agreed to postpone the qualifying until June, and the tournament was eventually held from 6 June to 10 June at Aracaju[3].
Eight teams participated, and Brazil and Argentina went through the group stages unbeaten, as the only teams with positive goal difference. The two top teams in each group qualified for the semi-finals: Greenland joined Brazil from Group A after two 32–30 wins over Chile and Uruguay, while in Group B United States qualified after drawing with Mexico and beating Puerto Rico.
In the semi-finals, Brazil and Argentina both won by more than ten goals, securing their place in Germany, while the third-place play-off saw Greenland prevail by one goal against United States to secure the third spot.[4].
Eleven places are at stake (Germany and Spain have already qualified), and the top three finishers at the 2006 European Men's Handball Championship in Switzerland in January and February 2006 will qualify. As Spain qualified for the semi-final at that tournament, the other three semi-finalists – Croatia, Denmark and France – have qualified. The other 11 participants at the European Championship will play off with five winners in preliminary qualifying groups, which are shown below.
The play-off draw was made in Zürich on 5 February. The matches[9] are two-legged affairs, and were played in the second and third weekend of June. Teams in bold below qualified for the World Championship.[10]
Australia qualified for the world championships after defeating New Zealand 41–14 and the Cook Islands 63–5 [11].
Tournament structure
Preliminary round
The 24 competing teams will be drawn into six preliminary groups of four teams each, and the matches in the preliminary round are scheduled to be held from 20 January to 22 January. The two top teams from each group then proceed to the main round, while the third and fourth-placed teams play in the Presidents-Cup[12].
On 14 July2006, the groups of the tournament were determined:[13]
The teams placed third and fourth in the preliminary round groups are divided into four groups of three teams, as such:
Group I:
3rd-placed group A
3rd-placed group B
3rd-placed group C
Group II:
3rd-placed group D
3rd-placed group E
3rd-placed group F
Group III:
4th-placed group A
4th-placed group B
4th-placed group C
Group IV:
4th-placed group A
4th-placed group B
4th-placed group C
The matches are scheduled for 24 February to 26 February. On 28 February, the winners of group I and II then play each other for the 13th place, the runners-up play each other for the 15th place, and the third-placed play off for 17th place. The Group III and IV teams play off for 19th, 21st and 23rd place in the same fashion.
Main round
The main round is scheduled for 24 January to 28 January, and the teams will be divided into two groups of six teams. The teams carry forward match results from matches against the other team from their group to qualify for the main round. Four teams from each main round group qualify for the quarter-finals.
No placement matches for the places 9 to 12 are scheduled.
Knockout stage
The knockout stage is scheduled to make up the last week of the tournament, starting on Tuesday 30 January and continuing until Sunday 4 February. The quarter-finals are set up so that the winner of one group will face the fourth-placed team in the other. Semi-finals and consolation matches are held on 1 February; two days later, the 5th and 7th place play-offs take place on 3 February, with the 3rd place play-off and final is scheduled for the following day.
Seedings
The seedings for the preliminary round have been partially determined; the full seedings will be revealed when all qualifying matches have been played[14]. Currently, the following seedings (in IHF terminology, performance row) have been confirmed:
Pot 1: Spain, France, Denmark, Tunisia, Croatia, Germany
Pot 2: Europe 4, Europe 5, Europe 6, Europe 7, Europe 8, Europe 9
Pot 3: Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Europe 10, Europe 11, Brazil
Pot 4: Angola, South Korea, Qatar, Argentina, Greenland, Australia
Australia qualified for the world championships after defeating New Zealand 41–14 and the Cook Islands 63–5 [11].
Tunisia
Kuwait
Greenland
France
Germany
Brazil
Argentina
Spain
Egypt
Qatar
Denmark
Angola
Croatia
Morocco
Korea