Current season, competition or edition: 2017 World Men's Handball Championship |
|
Sport | Handball |
---|---|
Founded | 1938 |
No. of teams | 24 |
Continent | International (IHF) |
Most recent champion(s) |
France (6th title) |
Most titles | France (6 titles) |
The World Men's Handball Championship has been organized by the International Handball Federation since 1938. The competition has been dominated by European countries. It has been won most times by France, but Sweden has won most medals.
The first World Championship took place in Germany in 1938, involving four teams from Europe who competed in a round robin stage to find a winner. It wouldn't be until sixteen years later where the second World Championship was held in the country of Sweden. Throughout their history, the World Championships has been dominated by European teams, with no medals being won by non-European countries until 2015, by Qatar. Over the years, the organization of the World Championships has changed. Initially, there were group games in both the preliminary and main rounds, but more recently a knockout system has been applied after the preliminary round.
List of hosts by number of championships hosted.