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The IHF World Men’s Handball Championship and was founded in 1938. Today, the event has around 24 participating teams each year and the European countries are dominating this league. France has the most wins under their belt and Sweden has the most medals. Below are the betting odds for the next IHF World Championship.
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The Men’s World Handball Championship brings together the world’s elite handball players every two years under the aegis of the International Handball Federation (IHF). After a first edition in 1938, this event has been held regularly since 1954 and has been running at its biennial rate since 1993.
In 2017, there were fifty-four teams that took part in the competition. No nation has participated in all editions. Nine nations, all European, won the event. Only one non-European nation has finished on the podium of a world championship: Qatar in 2015. With six titles won since 1995, France is the most successful team in the world.
The last title was won by Denmark in 2019 in Germany and Denmark.
From 1938 to 1960
Document used to write the article (en) International Handball Federation, History of Men’s Handball World Championships:
The first World Indoor Handball Championship in 1938 lasted only two days, which is not surprising since only four countries participated. On February 5 and 6, 1938, the German Reich, Austria, Sweden and Denmark, under the leadership of the International Amateur Handball Federation (IAHF), predecessor of the International Handball Federation (IHF), determined the winners of this all-round tournament, which therefore did not have a real final. Winners of their three matches, Germany won the competition ahead of Austria, narrowly defeated in the “final” 5-4, and Sweden, who beat Denmark 2-1.
However, eleven-a-side handball, on grass and in the open air, prevailed in the first half of the 20th century. The Second World War and three editions of the World Outdoor Championship (1938, 1948 and 1952) later, it was not until 1954 that the second World Indoor Handball Championship was held. While outdoor eleven-a-side handball was even more popular in Central Europe in the 1950s, its seven-player indoor version was becoming increasingly popular in Scandinavia. It was therefore almost logical that Sweden, runner-up in the outdoor world championship in 1952, not only hosted but also won this tournament. The Germans won their preliminary round matches against Switzerland and France, while Sweden defeated Denmark and Czechoslovakia. In the final, the Swedish host defeated the Germans 17-14 while Czechoslovakia won the bronze medal.
The third edition took place from 27 February to 2 March 1958 in the German Democratic Republic. Sixteen teams are participating in the competition: Brazil is the first non-European country to participate in a world championship while Germany is composed of players from West and East Germany competing as a unified German team. The first match of the Germans, won 46-4 against the modest Luxembourgers, is still the biggest victory in a world championship today. Germany, the best attack and best defence in the competition, were nevertheless beaten by Czechoslovakia in the main round and had to settle for the bronze medal. In the final, the Czechoslovakians also had no chance against the reigning champions, Sweden, who won 22-12, having already scored five goals at half-time (10-5). France, meanwhile, was eliminated in the preliminary phase and placed ninth.
From 1961 to 1970
Document used to write the article (en) International Handball Federation, History of Men’s Handball World Championships:
Three years later, in 1961, the 12 qualified teams travelled to Germany again, this time to the Federal Republic of Germany. It is worth mentioning the absence of the USSR, defeated by Romania in the qualifying round. The host, who had a unified team of both West and East German players, achieved a rather disappointing result, placing only fourth: after two wins in the preliminary round, they were then beaten by Romania 9-12 in the main round and finally by Sweden in the bronze medal match. In contrast, the Romanians, who had been eliminated in the preliminary round three years earlier and finished second in the preliminary round group after losing 8-12 to Czechoslovakia, won their three main round matches against Germany, Denmark and Norway and qualified for the final. In the other group, Czechoslovakia was first held in check by Iceland (15-15) but then defeated Sweden and France. It is therefore a revenge between the two communist states of Czechoslovakia and Romania. The final, which was played in front of 14,000 spectators, required two extra time to determine the winner.
The 5th World Championship was organised by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1964. After a bronze medal and two silver medals in the previous three editions, the hosts finally hope to win their first title and give themselves the means to do so by winning their three matches in the preliminary round: the Czechoslovakians qualified with Denmark while Switzerland and France were eliminated. In group A, a three-way match pits the two Germans (FRG and GDR, who compete separately) against Yugoslavia, with the United States clearly losing all three matches: the Yugoslavs having drawn two matches against the two Germans, the defeat of the East Germans against the West Germans eliminates them from the competition.
In Group B, Sweden, Hungary and Iceland each finished with two wins to one loss, Iceland being eliminated due to a lower goal difference. Finally, in Group D, Romania won all three matches while the USSR, Japan and Norway, all 2 points behind, were tied on goal difference in favour of the Soviets. In the main round, Romania destroyed the hopes of the Czechoslovakian host by narrowly winning revenge in the 1961 final 16-15. In the other group, the Swedes, despite their defeat against the FRG, qualified for the final because the Germans lost to Hungary and kept the draw against Yugoslavia. In the small final, Czechoslovakia dominated the FRG 22-15 and won its fourth consecutive medal. Winner in the final against Sweden 25-22, Romania keeps its title.
Sweden hosted the 6th edition of the World Championship in 1967. Sixteen teams participated as in 1964, but the format has been changed again: if the first phase is identical (4 groups of 4 teams), a cup format then starts in the quarter-finals. Yugoslavia and Germany, winners of their respective groups, were eliminated in the quarter-finals against Denmark (14-13) and the USSR (19-16), second in their group after Romania, respectively. In the other two quarter-finals, Romania struggled to win against Hungary 20-19 and the Swedish hosts were clearly defeated by Czechoslovakia 11-18. In the semi-final, Czechoslovakia finally managed to eliminate their black cat by winning 19-17 against Romania and in the final a surprising Danish team, winner of the Soviet Union 17-12. Romania saved the honour by winning the match for third place after extra time against the USSR 21-19, while Czechoslovakia did not miss the opportunity to win its first title for its third final by beating Denmark 14-11.
For the 1970 World Championship held in France, the tournament mode remained unchanged except for the introduction of a ranking pool for teams ranked third after the preliminary round, to play places 9 to 12. In the quarter-finals, Denmark took revenge on Czechoslovakia after losing in the 1967 final and eliminated the defending champions 18-16. In the German duel, the GDR defeated the FRG 18-17 after extra time, while Romania and Yugoslavia also reached their qualification with Sweden 15-13 and Hungary 11-10 respectively, while in the semi-finals the matches were less tight as the GDR eliminated Yugoslavia 17-13 and Romania beat Denmark 18-12. While Yugoslavia outperformed the Danes 29-12 in the small final, an exciting and highly contested final pitted Romania and the GDR against Paris, as it was only after the second overtime period that the Romanians won the match (13-12) and thus regained the title they had lost three years earlier.
From 1974 to 1990
In 1974, the 8th edition took place in the German Democratic Republic. Like four years earlier, Romania and East Germany faced off in the final and once again the Romanians won, winning their fourth world championship after 1961, 1964 and 1970. Neither Yugoslavia, Olympic champion in Munich, nor the USSR, nor the GDR, although they played in front of their home crowd, managed to beat the outgoing champion. The tournament formula meant that after an easy qualifying round, the Romanians, who were successively up against Denmark and Czechoslovakia in the main round, were never really called upon until the final. On the other hand, the GDR, from the qualifying round onwards, had to work against the USSR (15-15) and draw on its reserves in the main round to beat Yugoslavia (19-17) before playing in the final. The final ranking shows a very significant progress in the Eastern Bloc countries:
The first 7 teams come from the East. Only Bulgaria, placed in a difficult group, could not reach the main round. The only representative of the Western countries in the top 8 is Denmark, ranked 4th in 1970 in Paris. It should also be noted that in the qualifying round, in Pool A, there were also the Federal Republic of Germany and Iceland: it was therefore certain that at least one Western country would reach the final round. There has also been a sharp decline in the two main representatives of the Western countries: the Federal Republic of Germany and Sweden. The latter owes its 10th place only to a “victory” over Romania. If the sporting logic had been respected, it was Spain that remained in the consolation pool race and Sweden was simply eliminated.
Despite a game based on liveliness, risk, Japan, due to a relative lack of templates, was unable to climb any further up the global ladder.
The 1978 World Championship is, for the first time, organised by Denmark. This 9th edition is won for the first time by West Germany, winner in the final of the Soviet Union, defending Olympic champion. East Germany completes the podium while Romania, two-time defending champions, only finished in 7th place.
West Germany, host of the 10th edition in 1982, therefore has a good opportunity to defend their title. If the competition was a sporting success with 160,000 spectators, the West Germans narrowly missed the match for the bronze medal and finally finished in 7th place. It was the Soviets who won their first world championship title by winning their matches against European opponents with an average gap of nine goals. Beaten in the final 30-27, Yugoslavia finished second. Poland won its second international medal, the bronze as it did at the 1976 Olympic Games. Lower in the ranking, Czechoslovakia, medallist at the first five World Championships, confirmed its decline by being relegated to the 1983 B World Championship. Finally, the last 4 places are occupied by the 4 non-European nations: Cuba, Japan, Kuwait and Algeria.
In 1986, the sixteen teams competed in Switzerland. The competition was won by Yugoslavia, which confirms that its Olympic title in Los Angeles was not totally usurped despite reduced opposition due to the boycott of many major nations. Hungary, defeated 22-24 in the final, achieved its best result in international competition. For East Germany, the bronze medal is the fourth medal won in the last five world championships. On the other hand, the defending champion, the USSR, had to settle for a very disappointing 10th place after being beaten by Spain in particular, which, with a fine 5th place, finished first in the world top 10.
The 1990 World Championship in Czechoslovakia marked the beginning of Sweden’s golden age: led by Bengt Johansson and many outstanding players such as Magnus Wislander, Magnus Andersson or soon Stefan Lövgren, this first title since the victories in 1954 and 1958 was followed by many others, including four European championships and three Olympic silver medals until 2002. The USSR, defeated 23-27 in the final, confirmed its Olympic title in Seoul. On the other hand, the South Korean Olympic runners-up suffered a tough return to reality with 6 defeats in 7 games and a modest 12th place. As for the bronze medal won by Romania, this is the last feat of this four-time world champion team, which will then no longer be able to fight for the podium places. Finally, France, led by Jackson Richardson, voted best player of the competition, finished in 9th place, synonymous with qualifying for the Olympic Games.