IHF World Women's Handball Championship


The IHF World Women's Handball Championship has been organized by the International Handball Federation since 1957. European team have won every time except 1995 where South Korea won as the first team outside Europe and 2013 where Brazil won as the first American team. The biggest winner is Russia with four titles.
Nine teams participated in the first championship, this number has grown in steps to 32. In 1977 a B-tournament was introduced and later in 1986 a C-tournament which served as qualification for the real championship or A-tournament. The B- and C-tournament qualifications were replaced by the present qualification system based on continental confederations in 1993.
From 1993 it has been held every other year. Between 1978 and 1990 it was held every fourth alternating with the Olympic tournament. The first five tournaments were held in the summer or early fall whereas the rest has been held in November or December.

Tournaments

Medal table

IHF only includes medals won at the indoor championships.

Participation nations

Source: IHF official site.
Since first entering the tournament in 1957, Romania are the only team to have appeared in all 24 tournaments to date.

Most successful players

Boldface denotes active handball players and highest medal count among all players per type.

Multiple gold medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 3 gold medals at the World Championships.
RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Maryna Bazanova198219903––3
1Hannelore Burosch197119783––3
1Maria Constantinescu 19561962 3 **–– 3 **
1Victorița Dumitrescu19561962 3 **–– 3 **
1Anna Kareyeva200120073––3
1Irina Klimovschi 19561962 3 **–– 3 **
1Waltraud Kretzschmar197119783––3
1Nadezhda Muravyova200120093––3
1Irina Poltoratskaya200120073––3
1Lyudmila Postnova200520093––3
1Oksana Romenskaya200120073––3
1Ana Stănișel 19561962 3 **–– 3 **
1Iozefina Ștefănescu 19561962 3 **–– 3 **
1Inna Suslina200120093––3
1Aurelia Szőke 19561962 3 **–– 3 **
1Emiliya Turey200520093––3
1Petra Uhlig 197119783––3
1Hannelore Zober197119783––3

** including two medals won at the 1956 and 1960 World Outdoor Field Handball Championships

Multiple medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 4 medals in total at the World Championships.
RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Kari Aalvik Grimsbø200720172215
1Zinaida Turchyna197319862215
3Camilla Herrem200920172114
3Heidi Løke200920172114
5Katrine Lunde 200720171214
6Amália Sterbinszky19711982–134

Largest winning margin

Source: