The draw for the tournament was made on Thursday, 2 June, at the IHF Head Office in Basel, Switzerland.

Before the draw, which was conducted by IHF Competitions Director Patric Strub, the 32 teams had been divided into four pots of eight teams each.

After the teams from pots 4, 3 and 1 were drawn, hosts North Macedonia had the prerogative to assign themselves a group of their choice. They opted to join Group B, where they will be the only European nation alongside Islamic Republic of Iran, Uzbekistan and Senegal. 

The three other African nations have also learned their fate. Algeria is in group A with Montenegro, Sweden, and Iceland. Egypt with Croatia, Kazakhstan, and India in group D. And Guinea in the group with Romania, the Netherlands and Slovenia.

Draw result

Group A: Montenegro, Sweden, Algeria, Iceland
Group B: Islamic Republic of Iran, North Macedonia, Uzbekistan, Senegal
Group C: Denmark, Portugal, Austria, Faroe Islands
Group D: Croatia, Kazakhstan, Egypt, India
Group E: Romania, Netherlands, Guinea, Slovenia
Group F: Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Republic of Korea
Group G: Norway, Czech Republic, Brazil, Uruguay
Group H: Hungary, France, Argentina, Spain

The top two sides in each group will qualify for the main round, while the other teams will compete for the places 17 to 32 in the President’s Cup. The competition will take place between 30 July and 10 August in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Source:IHF