2021 World Men's Handball Championship

2021 World Men's Handball Championship

بطولة العالم لكرة اليد للرجال 2021
Tournament details
Host country	Egypt
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Dates	13–31 January
Teams	32 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Denmark (2nd title)
Runner-up	Sweden
Third place	Spain
Fourth place	France
Tournament statistics
Matches played	102
Goals scored	5,803 (56.89 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Frankis Marzo (58 goals)
Best player	Mikkel Hansen
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The 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was the 27th event hosted by the International Handball Federation and held in Egypt from 13 to 31 January 2021.

Starting with this edition, the World Championship was expanded from 24 teams to 32.^[1] It was also the third World Championship hosted in Africa, the second in Egypt, and the first to be hosted outside of Europe since 2015.

Denmark were the defending champions, having won their first World Championship title in 2019 on home soil. They defended the title by beating Sweden in the final,^[2] the second final between two Scandinavian countries in a row. On the way, Denmark defeated hosts Egypt in the quarter-finals, and the reigning European champions Spain in the semi-finals. The latter secured the bronze medal after defeating France in the third place game.^[3]

The tournament was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

Seven nations initially expressed interest in hosting the tournament:^[5]

•  Egypt
•  France
•  Hungary
•  Poland
•  Slovakia
•  Sweden
•  Switzerland

However, until the bidding phase expired on 15 April 2015, only three nations entered documents to bid for the event:^[6]

•  Egypt
•  Hungary
•  Poland

A decision was scheduled for 4 June 2015, but the Congress was moved to 6 November 2015, where Egypt was chosen as the host.^[7]

The 2021 edition saw a format change as the tournament was expanded. The 32 teams were split into eight groups of four teams each. The top three teams from each group progressed to the main round, while the teams ranked last in their preliminary round groups played the President's Cup. The 24 main round teams were divided into four groups of six teams each. The top two teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

Following is a list of all venues and host cities.

Cairo New Capital Borg El Arab 6th of October		Cairo	New Administrative Capital
		Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex	New Capital Sports Hall
		Capacity: 17,000	Capacity: 7,500
		Alexandria	6th of October City
		Borg El Arab Sports Hall	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall
		Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 4,500

As is the previous edition, the World Championship organizer was directly qualified, along with the reigning world champions. Following the decision about increasing the number of participating teams, changes were made in the distribution of places by the Continental Confederations. The number of compulsory places awarded to each Continental Confederation was increased as follows: four places each for Africa, Asia, and Europe. Starting from this tournament, Pan America was split into two zones: the North America and Caribbean Zone with one compulsory place, and the South and Central America Zone with three places. There was also a South and Central American Men's Last Chance Qualification Tournament which provided a qualification spot for the winning team. One additional place was available for Oceania, but only in the case where that national team would rank fifth or higher at the Asian Championship. Since no Oceania team placed among the top five at the Asian Championship, the IHF awarded an additional wild card.^[8] In addition, there were 12 performance places for the Continental Confederations, which were based on the teams ranked 1–12 of the preceding World Championship. According to the new qualification system^[9] and taking into consideration the results of the 2019 Men's World Championship, 32 places were distributed as follows:

• Host nation: 1
• Reigning world champion: 1
• Africa: 6
• Asia: 4
• Europe: 13
• Pan America: 5
  • North America and Caribbean: 1
  • South and Central America: 3
  • South and Central American Last Chance Qualification Tournament: 1
• Oceania/additional wild card: 1
• Wild card: 1

Competition	Dates	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	6 November 2015	Sochi	1	Egypt
2019 World Championship	10–27 January 2019	Denmark  Germany	1	Denmark
2020 European Championship	9–26 January 2020	Austria  Norway  Sweden	3	Croatia  Norway  Spain
2020 African Championship	16–26 January 2020	Tunisia	6	Algeria  Angola  Cape Verde  DR Congo  Morocco  Tunisia
2020 Asian Championship	16–27 January 2020	Kuwait City	4[1]	Bahrain  Japan  Qatar  South Korea
2020 South and Central American Championship[10]	21–25 January 2020	Maringá	3	Argentina  Brazil  Uruguay
2020 Nor.Ca. Championship	(Cancelled)[2]	Mexico City	1-1	United States[11]
2020 South and Central American Last Chance Qualification Tournament	(Cancelled)[2]	Uruguay[12]	1	Chile[13]
European qualification	23 October 2019 – 5 July 2020 (cancelled)	Various (cancelled)	10+1[3]	Austria  Belarus  Czech Republic  France  Germany  Hungary  Iceland  Portugal  Slovenia  Sweden  North Macedonia (replacement)   Switzerland (replacement)
Wild card[14]	9 July 2020	—	2[1]	Poland Russian Handball Federation[4]

^ 1. Since countries from Oceania (Australia or New Zealand) participating in the Asian Championships did not finish within the top five, they did not qualify for the World Championship. Since they placed sixth or lower, the place transferred to the wild card spot.
^ 2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South and North American qualification tournaments were scrapped. The IHF Council decided to extend the deadline for the organisation of the remaining qualification tournaments until 31 October 2020.^[15]
^ 3. Because the European qualification was cancelled, the final ranking of the 2020 European Men's Handball Championship was used to determine the participants.^[16]
^ 4. On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for a period of four years, after the Russian government was found to have tampered with laboratory data that it provided to WADA in January 2019 as a condition of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency being reinstated. As a result of the ban, WADA plans to allow individually cleared Russian athletes to take part in the 2020 Summer Olympics under a neutral banner, as instigated at the 2018 Winter Olympics, but they will not be permitted to compete in team sports. The title of the neutral banner has yet to be determined; WADA Compliance Review Committee head Jonathan Taylor stated that the IOC would not be able to use "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) as it did in 2018, emphasizing that neutral athletes cannot be portrayed as representing a specific country.^[17][18][19] Russia later filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the WADA decision.^[20] After reviewing the case on appeal, CAS ruled on 17 December 2020 to reduce the penalty that WADA had placed on Russia. Instead of banning Russia from sporting events, the ruling allowed Russia to participate at the Olympics and other international events, but for a period of two years, the team cannot use the Russian name, flag, or anthem and must present themselves as "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team". The ruling does allow for team uniforms to display "Russia" on the uniform as well as the use of the Russian flag colors within the uniform's design, although the name should be up to equal predominance as the "Neutral Athlete/Team" designation.^[21] The Russian team will play under the name "Russian Handball Federation Team".^[22]

Country	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances1, 2
Egypt	Host	6 November 2015	15 (1964, 1993, 1995, 1997,1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Denmark[23]	World champion	27 January 2019	23 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Angola	Top seven at 2020 African Championship	20 January 2020	4 (2005, 2007, 2017, 2019)
Algeria	Top seven at 2020 African Championship	20 January 2020	14 (1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Tunisia	Top seven at 2020 African Championship	20 January 2020	14 (1967, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Qatar	Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship	21 January 2020	7 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Japan	Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship	23 January 2020	14 (1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2005, 2011, 2017, 2019)
Bahrain	Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship	23 January 2020	3 (2011, 2017, 2019)
South Korea	Semifinalist at 2020 Asian Championship	23 January 2020	12 (1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 20193)
Argentina	Top three at 2020 South and Central American Championship	23 January 2020	12 (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Brazil	Top three at 2020 South and Central American Championship	23 January 2020	14 (1958, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Croatia	Top three at 2020 European Championship	24 January 2020	13 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Spain	Top three at 2020 European Championship	24 January 2020	20 (1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Cape Verde	Top seven at 2020 African Championship	24 January 2020	0 (debut)
Morocco	Top seven at 2020 African Championship	24 January 2020	6 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007)
Norway	Top three at 2020 European Championship	25 January 2020	15 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019)
Uruguay	Top three at 2020 South and Central American Championship	25 January 2020	0 (debut)
DR Congo	Top seven at 2020 African Championship	26 January 2020	0 (debut)
Austria	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	6 (1938, 1958, 1993, 2011, 2015, 2019)
Belarus	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	4 (1995, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Czech Republic4	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	6 (1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2015)
France	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	22 (1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1978, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Germany	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	25 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 19907, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Hungary	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	20 (1958, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019)
Iceland	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	20 (1958, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Portugal	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	3 (1997, 2001, 2003)
Slovenia	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	8 (1995, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017)
Sweden	2020 European Championship final ranking	24 April 2020	24 (1938, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Poland	Wildcard	9 July 2020	15 (1958, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
ROC	Wildcard	9 July 2020	13 (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)5
United States6	North America and Caribbean representative[11]	2 November 2020	6 (1964, 1970, 1974, 1993, 1995, 2001)
Chile	South and Central America representative[13]	10 November 2020	5 (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
North Macedonia4	Replacement	12 January 2021	6 (1999, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Switzerland6	Replacement	12 January 2021	10 (1954, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year.

² Italic indicates host country for that year.

³ Participated as a Unified Korea team in 2019.

⁴ On 12 January, the International Handball Federation announced that the Czech Republic had withdrawn from the tournament due to high number of COVID-19 infected players. North Macedonia replaced them.^[24]

⁵ Participated as Russia in 1993–2019.

⁶ On 12 January, the International Handball Federation announced that the United States had withdrawn from the tournament due to high number of COVID-19 infected players. Switzerland replaced them.^[25]

⁷ From both German teams only East Germany was qualified in 1990

The draw was held on 5 September 2020 at the Giza Pyramids Plateau.^[26][27] As hosts, Egypt had the privilege to assign itself to a group.^[28]

On 23 July 2020, the pots were announced.^[29]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Denmark  Spain  Croatia  Norway  Slovenia  Germany  Portugal  Sweden	Egypt  Argentina  Austria  Hungary  Tunisia  Algeria  Qatar  Belarus	Iceland  Brazil  Uruguay  Czech Republic  France  South Korea  Japan  Bahrain  North Macedonia4	Angola  Cape Verde  Morocco  Chile  DR Congo  Poland  United States * ROC   Switzerland5

This is the result of the draw with all groups

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
Germany  Hungary  Uruguay  Cape Verde	Spain  Tunisia  Brazil  Poland	Croatia  Qatar  Japan  Angola	Denmark  Argentina  Bahrain  DR Congo	Norway  Austria  France   Switzerland	Portugal  Algeria  Iceland  Morocco	Sweden  Egypt  North Macedonia  Chile	Slovenia  Belarus  South Korea  ROC  United States

The referee pairs were selected on 4 January 2021.^[30]

Referees  Algeria Youcef Belkhiri Sid Ali Hamidi  Argentina Julian Grillo Sebastián Lenci  Croatia Matija Gubica Boris Milošević  Czech Republic Václav Horáček Jiří Novotný  Denmark Mads Hansen Jesper Madsen  Egypt Alaa Emam Hossam Hedaia  France Charlotte Bonaventura Julie Bonaventura  France Karim Gasmi Raouf Gasmi  Germany Robert Schulze Tobias Tönnies  Iran Majid Kolahdouzan Alireza Mousaviannazhad

Referees  North Macedonia Gjorgji Nachevski Slave Nikolov  Montenegro Ivan Pavićević Miloš Ražnatović  Norway Håvard Kleven Lars Jørum  Portugal Duarte Santos Ricardo Fonseca  Slovenia Bojan Lah David Sok  Spain Óscar Raluy Ángel Sabroso  Sweden Mirza Kurtagic Mattias Wetterwik  Switzerland Arthur Brunner Morad Salah  Tunisia Samir Krichen Samir Makhlouf

All times are local (UTC+2).^[31][32]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary	3	3	0	0	107	73	+34	6	Main round
2	Germany	3	2	0	1	81	43	+38	4
3	Uruguay	3	1	0	2	42	87	−45	2
4	Cape Verde	3	0	0	3	27	54	−27	0	Presidents Cup

15 January 2021 19:00	Germany	43–14	Uruguay	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Grillo, Lenci (ARG)
	Kastening 9	(16–4)	Morandeira 4
	4×	Report	1× 2×

15 January 2021 21:30	Hungary	34–27	Cape Verde	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Emam, Hedaia (EGY)
	Ancsin 7	(19–14)	Semedo 6
	1× 6× 1×	Report	1× 4×

17 January 2021	Cape Verde	0–10[note 1]	Germany

17 January 2021 21:30	Hungary	44–18	Uruguay	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Kolahdouzan, Mousaviannazhad (IRI)
	Máthé 8	(16–8)	Morandeira 4
	2× 3×	Report	2×

19 January 2021	Uruguay	10–0[note 1]	Cape Verde

19 January 2021 21:30	Germany	28–29	Hungary	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	Schiller 7	(14–15)	Bánhidi, Máthé 8
	7×	Report	1× 7×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	2	1	0	92	85	+7	5	Main round
2	Poland	3	2	0	1	89	78	+11	4
3	Brazil	3	0	2	1	84	94	−10	2
4	Tunisia	3	0	1	2	90	98	−8	1	Presidents Cup

15 January 2021 19:00	Spain	29–29	Brazil	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	three players 4	(16–13)	Langaro, Moraes Ferreira 6
	4×	Report	1× 6×

15 January 2021 21:30	Tunisia	28–30	Poland	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Sanaï 9	(17–17)	Moryto 11
	2× 5×	Report	2× 6×

17 January 2021 19:00	Tunisia	32–32	Brazil	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Darmoul 9	(20–16)	Hackbarth, Langaro 6
	2× 6×	Report	4×

17 January 2021 21:30	Poland	26–27	Spain	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Sićko 6	(11–14)	three players 5
	1× 6×	Report	1× 2×

19 January 2021 19:00	Spain	36–30	Tunisia	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Fernández Pérez 10	(17–14)	Darmoul 8
	5×	Report	1× 3×

19 January 2021 21:30	Brazil	23–33	Poland	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Langaro 4	(11–13)	Moryto, Sićko 6
	1× 4×	Report	1× 4×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	3	2	1	0	83	73	+10	5	Main round
2	Qatar	3	2	0	1	85	80	+5	4
3	Japan	3	1	1	1	88	89	−1	3
4	Angola	3	0	0	3	74	88	−14	0	Presidents Cup

15 January 2021 16:30	Qatar	30–25	Angola	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Fonseca, Santos (POR)
	Madadi 8	(14–13)	Pestana 6
	1× 6×	Report	4×

15 January 2021 19:00	Croatia	29–29	Japan	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Krichen, Makhlouf (TUN)
	Marić 7	(14–17)	Agarie, R. Tokuda 5
	2× 3×	Report	2× 3×

17 January 2021 16:30	Qatar	31–29	Japan	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Frankis 11	(15–16)	Doi 7
	3×	Report	2× 3×

17 January 2021 19:00	Angola	20–28	Croatia	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Ferreira 4	(11–12)	Čupić 6
	6× 2×	Report	3× 6×

19 January 2021 16:30	Japan	30–29	Angola	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Krichen, Makhlouf (TUN)
	Watanabe 7	(16–12)	Tati 6
	1×	Report	5×

19 January 2021 19:00	Croatia	26–24	Qatar	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Štrlek 6	(13–11)	Frankis 7
	2× 4×	Report	1× 2×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	3	3	0	0	104	59	+45	6	Main round
2	Argentina	3	2	0	1	72	74	−2	4
3	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	75	85	−10	2
4	DR Congo	3	0	0	3	68	101	−33	0	Presidents Cup

15 January 2021 19:00	Argentina	28–22	DR Congo	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: C. Bonaventura, J. Bonaventura (FRA)
	three players 5	(13–14)	Kiangebeni 7
	1× 4×	Report	2×

15 January 2021 21:30	Denmark	34–20	Bahrain	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Gidsel 10	(19–10)	Ahmed 8
	5×	Report	1× 4×

17 January 2021 19:00	Argentina	24–21	Bahrain	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Pizarro 6	(12–10)	Ahmed 5
	1× 1×	Report	3× 6×

17 January 2021 21:30	DR Congo	19–39	Denmark	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Bouity, Mvumbi 4	(10–23)	J. Hansen 8
	1× 3×	Report	1× 1×

19 January 2021 19:00	Bahrain	34–27	DR Congo	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Jørum, Kleven (NOR)
	Al-Sayyad 9	(14–12)	Kiangebeni 6
	1× 7×	Report	1× 4×

19 January 2021 21:30	Denmark	31–20	Argentina	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: C. Bonaventura, J. Bonaventura (FRA)
	M. Hansen 7	(15–10)	Martínez Cami 6
	1× 3×	Report	3× 6× 1×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	3	0	0	88	76	+12	6	Main round
2	Norway	3	2	0	1	93	82	+11	4
3	Switzerland[a]	3	1	0	2	77	81	−4	2
4	Austria	3	0	0	3	82	101	−19	0	Presidents Cup

14 January 2021 19:00	Austria	25–28	Switzerland	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Kolahdouzan, Mousaviannazhad (IRI)
	Weber 7	(13–13)	Schmid 7
	1× 7× 1×	Report	1× 4×

14 January 2021 21:30	Norway	24–28	France	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: García, Marín (ESP)
	Sagosen 10	(13–13)	Mahé 9
	5×	Report	2× 5×

16 January 2021 19:00	Austria	28–35	France	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Grillo, Lenci (ARG)
	Wagner 7	(13–17)	three players 4
	3×	Report	1× 4×

16 January 2021 21:30	Switzerland	25–31	Norway	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	Lier, Milosevic 7	(13–17)	Sagosen 11
	1× 6×	Report	1× 3×

18 January 2021 19:00	France	25–24	Switzerland	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Grillo, Lenci (ARG)
	Mahé 7	(14–14)	Schmid 10
	1× 3×	Report	1× 5×

18 January 2021 21:30	Norway	38–29	Austria	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: García, Marín (ESP)
	Sagosen 9	(20–17)	Wagner, Weber 6
	1× 4×	Report	1× 4×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	3	3	0	0	84	62	+22	6	Main round
2	Iceland	3	2	0	1	93	72	+21	4
3	Algeria	3	1	0	2	67	88	−21	2
4	Morocco	3	0	0	3	66	88	−22	0	Presidents Cup

14 January 2021 19:00	Algeria	24–23	Morocco	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Abdi 7	(8–15)	Rezzouki 6
	6×	Report	1× 9× 3×

14 January 2021 21:30	Portugal	25–23	Iceland	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Martins 6	(11–10)	Elísson 6
	2× 3×	Report	3× 4×

16 January 2021 19:00	Morocco	20–33	Portugal	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Harchaoui 5	(12–12)	Portela 9
	1× 7×	Report	2×

16 January 2021 21:30	Algeria	24–39	Iceland	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Abdi 5	(10–22)	Elísson 12
	1× 4× 1×	Report	4× 1×

18 January 2021 19:00	Portugal	26–19	Algeria	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Portela 4	(14–9)	Berkous 7
	6× 1×	Report	1× 4× 1×

18 January 2021 21:30	Iceland	31–23	Morocco	New Capital Sports Hall, New Administrative Capital Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Guðmundsson, V. Kristjánsson 6	(15–10)	Zaroili 5
	1× 3×	Report	1× 4× 2× 1×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	3	3	0	0	97	69	+28	6	Main round
2	Egypt (H)	3	2	0	1	96	72	+24	4
3	North Macedonia[a]	3	1	0	2	71	99	−28	2
4	Chile	3	0	0	3	84	108	−24	0	Presidents Cup

13 January 2021 19:00	Egypt	35–29	Chile	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	El-Deraa 6	(18–11)	E. Salinas 8
	2× 7×	Report	2× 9× 1×

14 January 2021 21:30	Sweden	32–20	North Macedonia	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Jørum, Kleven (NOR)
	Wanne 11	(16–11)	Lazarov 5
	2× 4×	Report	1× 3×

16 January 2021 19:00	Egypt	38–19	North Macedonia	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: C. Bonaventura, J. Bonaventura (FRA)
	Mamdouh Shebib 8	(20–6)	three players 3
	2×	Report	5× 1×

16 January 2021 21:30	Chile	26–41	Sweden	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Er. Feuchtmann 7	(16–20)	Pellas 12
	8× 1×	Report	1× 4×

18 January 2021 16:30	North Macedonia	32–29	Chile	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	Lazarov 8	(16–17)	three players 7
	6×	Report	1× 5×

18 January 2021 19:00	Sweden	24–23	Egypt	Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex, Cairo Referees: Jørum, Kleven (NOR)
	Persson 8	(9–12)	Sanad 8
	1× 2×	Report	3×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russian Handball Federation	3	2	1	0	93	83	+10	5	Main round
2	Slovenia	3	2	0	1	105	85	+20	4
3	Belarus	3	1	1	1	89	85	+4	3
4	South Korea	3	0	0	3	79	113	−34	0	Presidents Cup

14 January 2021 16:30	Belarus	32–32	Russian Handball Federation	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Vailupau 10	(15–15)	three players 6
	1× 6×	Report	1× 5× 1×

14 January 2021 19:00	Slovenia	51–29	South Korea	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Gajić 10	(25–16)	Kim Jin-h., Kim Jin-y. 6
	1× 6×	Report	2×

16 January 2021 16:30	Belarus	32–24	South Korea	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Krichen, Makhlouf (TUN)
	Vailupau 8	(15–9)	Kim Jin-y. 8
	1× 9× 1×	Report	3×

16 January 2021 19:00	Russian Handball Federation	31–25	Slovenia	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	three players 6	(16–13)	Dolenec 6
	1× 5×	Report	1× 4×

18 January 2021 16:30	South Korea	26–30	Russian Handball Federation	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Kim Ji-u. 8	(15–15)	Andreev, Kornev 5
	1× 2×	Report	2× 5×

18 January 2021 19:00	Slovenia	29–25	Belarus	Borg El Arab Sports Hall, Borg El Arab Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Janc 8	(15–15)	Karalek 7
	1× 5×	Report	1× 5×

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia	3	3	0	0	82	51	+31	6	25th place game
2	DR Congo	3	2	0	1	64	69	−5	4	27th place game
3	Angola	3	1	0	2	70	66	+4	2	29th place game
4	Cape Verde	3	0	0	3	0	30	−30	0	31st place game

21 January 2021	Cape Verde	0–10[note 1]	Tunisia

21 January 2021 19:00	Angola	31–32	DR Congo	Dr. Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall, 6th of October City Referees: Emam, Hedaia (EGY)
	Ferreira 8	(15–13)	Kiangebeni 8
	1× 2× 1×	Report	1× 5×