Registration starts for Men's World Championship 2017

The European Handball Federation has started the registration process for its member federation for the Men's World Championship 2017 in France.

France as defending champions and tournament hosts are directly qualified. They will be joined by another 12 teams from Europe which will compete at the 24-nation event.

From the Men's EHF EURO 2016 the three best ranked teams will qualify directly. The remaining nine places will decided in the qualification which will start with its first phase for some teams already in November this year and will culminate in the play-offs in June next year.

The draw for the first qualification phase is planned to take place on 26 June 2015 at the EHF Office in Vienna.

This first phase will be played over three weeks in home and away matches with the playing dates on

• 4 to 8 November 2015
• 6 to 10 January 2016
• 13 to 17 January 2016

The play-off matches will be played in a home and away-format from 10 to 16 June 2016.

The winners of the play-off matches will qualify for the final tournament.

The Men's World Championship 2017 in France will be played from 15 to 29 January 2017.