2021 World Women's Handball Championship


The 2021 World Women's Handball Championship, the 25th event hosted by the International Handball Federation, will be held in Spain from 2 to 19 December 2021. On 18 October 2018, at a congress in Doha, Qatar, the IHF announced that the World Championship would be expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams from 2021 onwards. The Netherlands will be the defending champions after winning for the first time in 2019.

Bidding process

Spain and Hungary bid for the right to organise the 2021 Women's World Handball Championship. The International Handball Federation decided that the voting process would take place during the 2017 World Men's Handball Championship.
The Spanish bid included the following six host cities and venues:
Host CityVenueCapacity
BarcelonaNou Palau Blaugrana12,000
GranollersPalau d'Esports de Granollers5,200
TarragonaPalacio de Deportes de Tarragona5,000
LleidaPavelló Barris Nord5,500
Castellón de la PlanaPavelló Ciutat de Castelló5,200
BadalonaPalau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona12,500

The President of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation confirmed that full support is granted by the Olympic Movement, Spanish government and the handball community. The Spanish government guaranteed the introduction of all necessary measures so that the event could be celebrated in a full security setting, with special attention paid to key infrastructures for the staging of the competitions and to IHF operations, its subsidiaries and delegations from different countries.
The Hungarian bid included the following six host cities and venues:
Host CityVenueCapacity
VeszprémVeszprém Aréna8,000
GyőrAudi Aréna5,500
SzegedArena Szeged8,000
BudapestLászló Papp Budapest Sports Arena12,000
DebrecenFőnix Hall6,000
TatabányaTatabánya Arena6,000

The 2021 Women's World Handball Championship was awarded to Spain by a secret ballot of members of the IHF Council.

Venues

The 2021 tournament wil be held in the following six host cities and venues:
Host CityVenueCapacity
BarcelonaNou Palau Blaugrana12,000
GranollersPalau d'Esports de Granollers5,200
TarragonaPalacio de Deportes de Tarragona5,000
LleidaPavelló Barris Nord5,500
Castellón de la PlanaPavelló Ciutat de Castelló5,200
BadalonaPalau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona12,500

Qualification

1. Since 2018 countries from Oceania are participating in the Asian Championships: if one of them finishes within the top five, it qualifies for the World Championship. Otherwise the place will transfer to the wild card spot.

Qualified teams