2011 World Women's Handball Championship


The 2011 World Women's Handball Championship, the 20th event hosted by the International Handball Federation, was held in Brazil from 2 to 18 December 2011.
The winner qualified for the 2012 Olympic Handball tournament and the 2013 World Championship, while teams finished second to seventh took the Olympic Qualifying tournament spots.
Norway won the title for the second time after defeating France 32–24 in the final, thus became only the second team after Denmark to possess the World Championship, European Championship and Olympic Games title in the same time. France, on the other hand, lost its second consecutive World Championship final after fell short against Russia in 2009. By winning the tournament, Norway qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics as World champions, while Sweden, which finished runner-up behind Norway in the European Championship, moved up to take the vacated European champion spot and also secured its place for the Olympics.
Spain triumphed over Denmark in the bronze final 24–18 and won their first ever World Championship medal, while hosts Brazil knocked out title holders Russia 36–20 in the match for the fifth place to take their best ever result.

Venues

The competition took place in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the third women's World Championship organized outside of Europe, after South Korea in 1990 and China in 2009.
Initially, the matches had to take place in the state of Santa Catarina.
Four cities have been selected to host the matches:
CityStadiumCapacityMatches
São PauloGinásio do Ibirapuera11,000Group C, Round of 16, President's Cup, Final Round
São Bernardo do CampoGinásio Adib Moyses Dib7,000Group D, Round of 16, President's Cup
SantosArena Santos5,000Group A, Round of 16
BarueriGinásio José Corrêa5,000Group B, Round of 16

Qualification

;Host nation
;Defending champions
;Qualified from the 2010 African Championship
;Qualified from the 2010 European Championship
;Qualified from the 2010 Asian Championship
;Qualified from the 2011 American Championship
;Qualified from the 2011 Oceania Championship
;Qualified from European play-offs
Eight European teams qualified for the World Championships through play-offs. The draw was made on 19 December. The first legs were played on 4/5 June with the second legs on 11/12 June.

Squads

Group draw

The draw was held on 2 July 2011 at 21:00 local time.

Seeding

The seeding was announced on June 24.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4Pot 5Pot 6

  • TH = Title Holder

    Group stage

    • A provisional scheduled was released on June 24. Brazil played the opening game on December 2. On July 7 the venues for each preliminary round were announced by the IHF. The detailed match schedule was released on August 31. As all Handball world championships, the tie-breakers in case of point tie betwin two or more teams were: 1.Points in matches between tied teams 2. Goal difference in matches between tied teams 3. Goaldifference in all group matches 4. Most scored goals in all group matches, 5. Draw.
    All times are local.

    Group A

    Angola won the tie-break for second place due to a better record in matches between them, Montenegro and Iceland. In those direct encounters all three got 2 points but Angola's +2 goal difference beat Montenegro's +1 and Iceland's –3.
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    Group B

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    Group C

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    Group D

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    Knockout stage

    ;Championship bracket
    ;5th place bracket

    Last 16

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    Quarterfinals

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    5th–8th semifinals

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    Semifinals

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    Seventh place match

    Fifth place match

    Third place match

    Final

    President's Cup

    Fifth and sixth place finishers from the group compete in the President's Cup to determine the places 17 through 24.

    Places 17 to 20

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    Places 21 to 24

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    23rd place match

    21st place match

    19th place match

    17th place match

    Statistics

    Top goalscorers

    Source:

    Top goalkeepers

    Source:

    Ranking and awards

    No placement matches for places 9 to 16 were played, but as those places might be decisive for qualification to the Olympics, the regulations ranked those teams. The losing teams of the Round of 16 were ranked based on a their group stage record against teams placed 1st to 4th.

    Final ranking

    4
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    2011 Women's World Champions
    Norway
    First title
    Team roster: Marit Malm Frafjord, Kari Aalvik Grimsbø, Mari Molid, Stine Bredal Oftedal, Ida Alstad, Heidi Løke, Tonje Nøstvold, Karoline Dyhre Breivang, Kristine Lunde-Borgersen, Kari Mette Johansen, Gøril Snorroeggen, Katrine Lunde Haraldsen, Linn Jørum Sulland, Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren, Amanda Kurtović, Camilla Herrem.
    Head Coach: Thorir Hergeirsson.

    All Star Team

    Chosen by team officials and IHF experts:

    Other awards