The 28th International Handball Federation (IHF) World Men’s Championship took place in Poland and Sweden from January 11-29, 2023. Denmark won the 32-team biennial tournament for the third consecutive time, defeating France in the final. Spain defeated Sweden in the bronze medal game.
Third Consecutive Title for the Danes
The two-time defending champions, Denmark exerted its dominance in the Group Stage, finishing first in Group H with a perfect 3-0 record and a goal differential of plus-43. The Danes began the tournament with a 43-28 victory over Belgium and followed that up with a 36-21 win over Bahrain and a 34-21 win over Tunisia. The top 24 teams from the Group Stage advanced to the Main Round, where they were split into four groups of six. Denmark recorded wins over Egypt, Croatia, and the United States to earn a spot in the quarter-finals.
The Danes beat Hungary 40-23 in the quarter-finals and Spain 26-23 in the semi-finals, setting up a gold medal game against France. Three-time World Championship MVP Mikkel Hansen was limited to just one goal, a 7-meter penalty strike, but the Danes’ balanced offensive attack carried the team to a 34-29 victory. Rasmus Lauge scored a team-leading 10 goals from 11 attempts and Simon Pytlick contributed nine goals. Pytlick scored a pivotal goal with three minutes remaining to extend Denmark’s lead to three goals, while goalkeeper Niklas Landin cemented the victory with stellar goaltending.
Pytlick was named the starting left back of the 2023 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship All-Star team, while Mathias Gidsel earned tournament MVP distinction. Gidsel, who won MVP at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, led all scorers with 60 goals. By winning the tournament, Denmark secured a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Rematch of the Tokyo 2020 Final
The France-Denmark final in 2023 was a rematch of the gold medal game from the Tokyo 2020 Games, where France was victorious. Both teams finished first in their respective six-team groups with 4-0-1 records. France reached the gold medal game with victories over Bahrain and Egypt in the Knockout Stage, while Denmark beat Norway and Spain. France won gold in a tightly contested game, beating Denmark 25-23.
Hugo Descat and Nedim Remili led France in scoring in the Olympics with 32 goals each. Hansen was the tournament’s leading scorer with 61 goals on 100 shots and became the all-time leading scorer in Olympic Games history. Denmark and France also met in the gold medal game of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games with Denmark scoring a 28-26 victory.
Spain Wins the Bronze Medal
Spain beat co-host Sweden, 39-36, in the highest-scoring bronze medal match ever at the IHF World Men’s Handball Championship. Sweden led 22-18 through the first 30 minutes, but Spain opened the second half on a 7-1 run to take the lead and never looked back. Spain has now won five medals at the IHF Men’s World Championship, all of which have come in the prior 10 editions of the tournament, and have reached the podium in five consecutive major tournaments. They beat Egypt, 33-31, in the bronze medal game at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Sweden has won 13 medals at the IHF Men’s World Championship.
Tunisia Wins the President’s Cup
The eight teams that failed to advance to the Main Round of the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship competed for the President’s Cup consolation trophy. Teams were split into two groups of four, with Tunisia and Chile winning their respective groups and earning a spot in the President’s Cup match. Tunisia scored victories over Macedonia, Morocco, and Algeria, while Chile beat the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay.
Tunisia dominated from the start and held a 14-goal lead at halftime before winning 38-26 in what was the most one-sided placement match in the tournament. Ghassen Toumi scored eight goals, all of which were in the first half, for Tunisia and goalkeeper Asil Namli stopped 44 percent of the shots he faced. Erwin Feuchtmann, Chile’s top scorer, was limited to just three goals in the first half of the match.
Tunisia also won the President’s Cup at the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship, beating Austria 37-33. Chile finished in 27th place in 2021.
A Look Back at the Group Stage
Norway, Hungary, Egypt, and Germany were the other four teams to reach the quarter-finals after impressive showings in the Group Stage and Main Round. Norway and Sweden won their respective six-team Main Round groups, while Hungary finished second in Group 2 and Germany finished second in Group 3. Hungary, Norway, and Egypt were all quarter-finalists in 2021, while Germany finished 12th.
Other teams that improved their ranking from 2021 included Croatia and Iceland. Croatia finished ninth in 2023 after a 15-place finish in 2021 and Iceland improved from 20th to 12th place. The US didn’t qualify for 2021, but finished 20th in 2023. It finished third in the four-team Group G behind Egypt and Croatia and then fifth in the six-team Group 4 in the Main Round.
Denmark Wins the 2023 IHF World Men’s Handball Championship
