The 20th World Men's Handball Championship took place from January 19 to February 4 2007 in Germany. 24 national teams played in 12 German cities.

The tournament was won by Germany.

Stadiums

12 German cities were hosts for the 2007 Championship. The most modern stadiums - spread all over the country - had been selected. The final match took place in the Kölnarena in Cologne (Köln).

Town	Stadium	max. spectators
Köln	Kölnarena	19.000
Mannheim	SAP-Arena	14.300
Hamburg	Color Line Arena	12.500
Dortmund	Westfalenhalle	12.000
Halle	Gerry-Weber-Stadion	11.000
Kiel	Ostseehalle	10.200
Berlin	Max-Schmeling-Halle	10.000
Bremen	AWD-Dome	9.200
Magdeburg	Bördelandhalle	7.850
Stuttgart	Porsche Arena	6.100
Lemgo	Lipperlandhalle	5.000
Wetzlar	Mittelhessen-Arena	5.000

Venues

Kölnarena (Kölnarena) Location: Cologne Capacity: 19,500 Club: VfL Gummersbach	SAP Arena (SAP-Arena) Location: Mannheim Capacity: 14,300 Club: Rhein-Neckar Löwen	Color Line Arena (Color Line Arena) Location: Hamburg Capacity: 13,800 Clubs: HSV Handball
Westfalenhalle (Westfalenhalle) Location: Dortmund Capacity: 12,000 Club:	Gerry Weber Stadion (Gerry Weber Stadion) Location: Halle Capacity: 11,000 Club:	Ostseehalle (Ostseehalle) Location: Kiel Capacity: 10,200 Club: THW Kiel
Max-Schmeling-Halle (Max-Schmeling-Halle) Location: Berlin Capacity: 10,000 Club: Füchse Berlin	AWD-Dome (AWD-Dome) Location: Bremen Capacity: 9,200 Club:	Bördelandhalle (Bördelandhalle) Location: Magdeburg Capacity: 7,850 Club: SC Magdeburg
Porsche Arena (Porsche Arena) Location: Stuttgart Capacity: 6,100 Club:	Lipperlandhalle (Lipperlandhalle) Location: Lemgo Capacity: 5,000 Club: TBV Lemgo	Rittal Arena Wetzlar (Rittal Arena Wetzlar) Location: Wetzlar Capacity: 5,000 Club: HSG Wetzlar

Qualification

2007 World Men's Handball Championship - qualification

Tournament structure

Preliminary round

The 24 competing teams will be drawn into six preliminary groups of four teams each, and the matches in the preliminary round are scheduled to be held from 20 January to 22 January. The two top teams from each group then proceed to the main round, while the third and fourth-placed teams play in the Presidents-Cup.

On 14 July 2006, the groups of the tournament were determined:

Group A (Wetzlar):	Group B (Magdeburg):	Group C (Berlin, Halle):
Group D (Bremen):	Group E (Kiel):	Group F (Stuttgart):

Presidents-Cup

The teams placed third and fourth in the preliminary round groups are divided into four groups of three teams, as such:

Group I: 3rd-placed group A 3rd-placed group B 3rd-placed group C

Group II: 3rd-placed group D 3rd-placed group E 3rd-placed group F

Group III: 4th-placed group A 4th-placed group B 4th-placed group C

Group IV: 4th-placed group D 4th-placed group E 4th-placed group F

The matches are scheduled for 24 January to 26 January. On 28 January, the winners of group I and II then play each other for the 13th place, the runners-up play each other for the 15th place, and the third-placed play off for 17th place. The Group III and IV teams play off for 19th, 21st and 23rd place in the same fashion.

Main round

The main round is scheduled for 24 January to 28 January, and the teams will be divided into two groups of six teams. The teams carry forward match results from matches against the other team from their group to qualify for the main round. Four teams from each main round group qualify for the quarter-finals.

No placement matches for the places 9 to 12 are scheduled.

Knockout stage

The knockout stage is scheduled to make up the last week of the tournament, starting on Tuesday 30 January and continuing until Sunday 4 February. The quarter-finals are set up so that the winner of one group will face the fourth-placed team in the other. Semi-finals and consolation matches are held on 1 February; two days later, the 5th and 7th place play-offs take place on 3 February, with the 3rd place play-off and final is scheduled for the following day.

Seedings

The seedings for the preliminary round have been partially determined; the full seedings will be revealed when all qualifying matches have been played. Currently, the following seedings (in IHF terminology, performance row) have been confirmed:

• Pot 1: Spain, France, Denmark, Tunisia, Croatia, Germany
• Pot 2: Europe 4, Europe 5, Europe 6, Europe 7, Europe 8, Europe 9
• Pot 3: Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Europe 10, Europe 11, Brazil
• Pot 4: Angola, South Korea, Qatar, Argentina, Greenland, Australia

Preliminary Round

	Team advanced to the Main Round
	Team will play in the President's Cup

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Group A (Wetzlar)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	3	3	0	0	102	71	+31	6
	3	2	0	1	97	77	+20	4
	3	1	0	2	85	94	-9	2
	3	0	0	3	68	110	-42	0

January 20 2007
	35 – 21
	34 – 23
January 21 2007
	20 – 36
	23 – 33
January 22 2007
	39 – 27
	27 – 34

Group B (Magdeburg)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	3	2	0	1	106	76	+30	4
	3	2	0	1	103	63	+40	4
	3	2	0	1	90	79	+11	4
	3	0	0	3	48	129	-81	0

January 20, 2007
	45 – 20
	32 – 21
January 21, 2007
	10 – 47
	29 – 32
January 22, 2007
	37 – 18
	24 – 32

Group C (Berlin/Halle)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	3	3	0	0	87	63	+24	6
	3	2	0	1	84	69	+15	4
	3	1	0	2	57	81	-24	2
	3	0	0	3	65	80	-15	0

January 19, 2007
	27 – 22
January 20, 2007
	29 – 15
January 21, 2007
	23 – 31
	20 – 32
January 22, 2007
	25 – 27
	20 – 22

Group D (Bremen)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	3	3	0	0	109	76	+33	6
	3	2	0	1	97	88	+9	4
	3	1	0	2	94	88	+6	2
	3	0	0	3	65	113	-48	0

January 20, 2007
	37 – 23
	33 – 29
January 21, 2007
	18 – 41
	30 – 31
January 22, 2007
	35 – 24
	35 – 29

Group E (Kiel)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	3	3	0	0	89	82	+7	6
	3	2	0	1	95	75	+20	4
	3	1	0	2	88	65	+23	2
	3	0	0	3	64	114	-50	0

January 20, 2007
	41 – 13
	29 – 30
January 21, 2007
	20 – 39
	25 – 22
January 22, 2007
	34 – 31
	27 – 25

Group F (Stuttgart)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	3	3	0	0	108	72	+36	6
	3	1	1	1	94	83	+11	3
	3	1	1	1	87	92	-5	3
	3	0	0	3	60	102	-42	0

January 20, 2007
	35 – 22
	32 – 32
January 21, 2007
	19 – 35
	23 – 41
January 22, 2007
	19 – 32
	32 – 27

Presidents Cup (13th-24th Place)

Group I (Lemgo)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	2	2	0	0	56	45	+11	4
	2	1	0	1	50	48	2	2
	2	0	0	2	48	61	-13	0

January 24, 2007
	23 – 33
January 25, 2007
	25 – 28
January 27, 2007
	23 – 22

Group II (Lemgo)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	2	2	0	0	61	50	+11	4
	2	1	0	1	68	64	+4	2
	2	0	0	2	48	63	-15	0

January 24, 2007
	18 – 27
January 25, 2007
	30 – 36
January 27, 2007
	34 – 32

Group III (Dortmund/Halle)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	2	2	0	0	63	53	+10	4
	2	1	0	1	64	58	+6	2
	2	0	0	2	48	64	-16	0

January 24, 2007
	34 – 25		Halle
January 25, 2007
	30 – 33		Dortmund
January 27, 2007
	23 – 30		Dortmund

Group IV (Dortmund/Halle)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	2	2	0	0	76	55	+21	4
	2	1	0	1	61	59	+2	2
	2	0	0	2	54	77	-23	0

January 24, 2007
	27 – 33		Halle
January 25, 2007
	27 – 44		Dortmund
January 27, 2007
	28 – 32		Dortmund

Main Round

	Team advanced to the Quarterfinals
	Team will play Placement Matches

Group I (Dortmund/Halle)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	5	4	0	1	162	147	+15	8
	5	4	0	1	157	138	+19	8
	5	3	0	2	161	153	+8	6
	5	3	0	2	142	128	+14	6
	5	1	0	4	140	165	-25	2
	5	0	0	5	142	173	-31	0

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

January 24, 2007
	29 – 35		Halle
	30 – 36		Dortmund
	31 – 22		Dortmund
January 25, 2007
	28 – 35		Dortmund
	35 – 33		Halle
	33 – 19		Halle
January 27, 2007
	26 – 29		Dortmund
	32 – 31		Halle
	40 – 31		Halle
January 28, 2007
	33 – 28		Dortmund
	27 – 38		Halle
	28 – 26		Halle

Group II (Mannheim)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDIF	Points
	5	5	0	0	145	128	+17	10
	5	3	0	2	141	134	+7	6
	5	3	0	2	152	145	+7	6
	5	2	0	3	136	142	-6	4
	5	2	0	3	132	138	-6	4
	5	0	0	5	138	157	-19	0

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

January 24, 2007
	25 – 28
	33 – 29
	26 – 28
January 25, 2007
	26 – 30
	25 – 18
	27 – 23
January 27, 2007
	31 – 29
	31 – 33
	26 – 24
January 28, 2007
	28 – 29
	26 – 25
	33 – 29

Placement Matches (9th-24th Place)

23rd/24th Place (Dortmund)

January 28, 2007
	22 – 36

21st/22nd Place (Dortmund)

January 28, 2007
	28 – 29

19th/20th Place (Dortmund)

January 28, 2007
	36 – 29

17th/18th Place (Lemgo)

January 28, 2007
	22 – 26

15th/16th Place (Lemgo)

January 28, 2007
	44 – 31

13th/14th Place (Lemgo)

January 28, 2007
	22 – 32

11th/12th Place (Köln)

January 30, 2007
	25 – 21

9th/10th Place (Hamburg)

January 30, 2007
	33 – 34

Final Round (Hamburg/Köln)

Finals

• ^a full time score was 34-34. Denmark won in 1st overtime.
• ^b full time score was 21-21. After 1st overtime it was 27-27. Germany won in 2nd overtime.
• ^c full time score was 26-26. After 1st overtime it was 30-30. Poland won in 2nd overtime.

5th-8th Place

Ranking and Statistics

Final Ranking

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

2007 Men's World Champions Germany Second Title Team Roster Henning Fritz, Pascal Hens, Oliver Roggisch, Dominik Klein, Michael Haaß, Sebastian Preiß, Holger Glandorf, Johannes Bitter, Markus Baur, Christian Zeitz, Torsten Jansen, Andrej Klimovets, Michael Kraus, Florian Kehrmann, Lars Kaufmann and Christian Schwarzer.Head Coach: Heiner Brand.

All Star Team

• Goalkeeper:
• Left wing:
• Left back:
• Pivot:
• Centre back:
• Right back:
• Right wing:

External links

• official website (German)
• National Handball Teams

Notes and references