The IHF Men’s World Championship has brought together the world’s best men’s national handball teams every two years since 1993. The current world champions are Denmark, who have won the title four consecutive times in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025. With six titles to their name, France remain the most successful nation in the history of the competition.
2027 Men’s Handball World Championship in Germany
Following editions in 1938, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1982, 2007 and 2019, Germany will host the IHF Men’s World Championship for the eighth time in 2027. The 30th edition of the tournament will be staged in Munich, Stuttgart, Magdeburg, Kiel, Hanover and Cologne. A total of 32 national teams will compete for the world title from 13 to 31 January 2027. The preliminary round groups have already been drawn and promise a number of high-profile international matchups across the four preliminary round host cities.
LANXESS arena Cologne selected as final round venue
The tournament will begin with preliminary round matches at the SAP Garden in Munich (11,000 spectators), the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart (6,200), the MERKUR Ostseehalle in Kiel (10,250) and the GETEC Arena in Magdeburg (6,500), with two groups playing at each venue. The two main round groups will then be hosted at LANXESS arena Cologne (19,250) and ZAG arena Hanover (10,000). Cologne will also stage the quarter-finals, semi-finals, placement matches and medal matches. Exactly 20 years after Germany’s famous World Championship triumph on home soil, the new world champions will be crowned there on 31 January 2027.
Germany’s route at the 2027 Men’s Handball World Championship
Germany will begin its campaign at the SAP Garden in Munich, where the hosts will face Serbia, Tunisia and Uruguay in the preliminary round. Should Alfred Gislason’s team progress, they will move on to Cologne for the main round.
The preliminary round groups are set
The draw has determined which nations will compete at the four preliminary round venues in Munich, Stuttgart, Kiel and Magdeburg. Fans can look forward to numerous high-quality encounters featuring some of the best handball nations in the world.
Munich (SAP Garden)
Group A: Germany, Serbia, Tunisia, Uruguay
Group C: Croatia, Spain, Chile, Türkiye
With the German national team and a group featuring both Croatia and Spain, Munich offers two highly attractive preliminary round groups.
Stuttgart (Porsche Arena)
Group B: Egypt, Italy, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia
Group D: Argentina, France, Brazil, Kuwait
In Stuttgart, record world champions France will be joined by Argentina and Brazil, one of international handball’s most exciting South American rivalries.
Kiel (MERKUR Ostseehalle)
Group E: Sweden, Norway, Greece, Qatar
Group G: Denmark, Slovenia, USA, Angola
Kiel welcomes reigning world champions Denmark and Sweden, two of the leading contenders for international honours, and promises some of the tournament’s most attractive preliminary round matches.
Magdeburg (GETEC Arena)
Group F: Portugal, Faroe Islands, Poland, Algeria
Group H: Iceland, North Macedonia, Bahrain, Japan
Magdeburg will host Portugal and Iceland, two nations that have recently established themselves among Europe’s strongest teams and arrive at the World Championship with ambitious goals.
It is already clear that all preliminary round venues will offer world-class handball and a genuine World Championship atmosphere.
A highlight within the Decade of Handball
The 2027 Men’s Handball World Championship represents another milestone in Germany’s “Decade of Handball”, which began with the Men’s Junior World Championship in 2023 and reached a major highlight with the record-breaking Men’s EHF EURO 2024. In 2025, Germany and the Netherlands hosted the IHF Women’s World Championship, while Germany and France will jointly stage the Men’s World Championship again in 2029. The Decade of Handball will conclude in 2032, when Germany hosts the Men’s EHF EURO together with France and the Women’s EHF EURO together with Denmark and Poland.
