Besides the two hosts and the defending world champions France, the three best-ranked teams of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 – the finalists Norway and Denmark and bronze medal match participants Hungary – had already booked their tickets to the World Championship.
The 11 pairings of the play-offs were drawn in Sunday's Women's EHF EURO 2024 closing press conference in Vienna. The draw was conducted by Martin Hausleitner (EHF Secretary General), Bozidar Djurkovic (Chairman EHF Competitions Commission) and IHF Representative Frantisek Taborsky.
The highlight of those 11 duels is the derby between Slovenia and Serbia, while the EHF EURO 2024 co-hosts Austria (against Türkiye) and Switzerland (against Slovakia) will have the home right in the first leg. Sweden, the fifth ranked team at the EHF EURO 2024, will lock horns with Kosovo, one of the four teams who won the tournaments in qualification phase 1.
2025 IHF Women’s World Championship Qualification Europe Phase 2:
- Switzerland vs Slovakia
- Italy vs Romania
- Poland vs North Macedonia
- Sweden vs Kosovo
- Slovenia vs Serbia
- Portugal vs Montenegro
- Faroe Islands vs Lithuania
- Czechia vs Ukraine
- Croatia vs Spain
- Austria vs Türkiye
- Iceland vs Israel
The first leg is scheduled for 9/10 April 2025, followed by the return leg on 12/13 April. The 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship 2025 will take place between 26 November and 14 December 2025, with a total of 32 countries competing for the title. The draw event for the preliminary rounds will be staged in May 2025.
Photos © Kolektiff Images
