As the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship and the 2023 IHF Men’s Super Globe are growing nearer, October is also a packed month in the world of handball, with crucial competitions taking place on all the continents, as there is little time to rest before the end of the year.
Two competitions which have already started in September in Asia and Africa will know their winners in the first week of October. The 2022 Asian Games, postponed last year, are in full fledge in Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, with 17 teams at the start, fighting for the coveted trophy.
The competition will end on 8 October, while the 44th Men’s and Women’s African Clubs Championship, which is taking place in Brazzaville, Congo, and has threw off on 28 September, will also conclude during the first weekend of the month, on 7 October.
One other crucial moment of the month will be the African Women’s Qualification Tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, due to take place between 12 and 14 October in Angola’s capital, Luanda, with the Arena do Kilamba being the venue of this decisive competition.
In the men’s Road to Paris 2024, the Asian Men’s Handball Qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will see 11 sides line up with the chance of sealing the coveted ticket for the competition, with the winners sealing their place at Paris 2024. The competition will be played between 18 and 28 October in Doha, Qatar.
Only one of the four participating teams – Angola, Cameroon, Congo and Senegal – all sides which will also feature at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, will progress to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the women’s competition, joining the already qualified sides – hosts France, Norway and the Republic of Korea.
31 European teams are lined up at the start of the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, the competition which will take place in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. This will be the first-ever Women’s EHF EURO edition with 24 teams at the start, with 21 spots for the final tournament ready to be sealed by the teams. Two matches for each side are scheduled between 11 and 15 October, as the national teams are in full fledge.
Staying in Europe, but at the younger age categories, the women’s youth and junior tournaments of the IHF Trophy Europe will be staged in Pristina, Kosovo from 11 to 15 October 2023. The event serves as qualification event for the Intercontinental Phase of the IHF Trophy. Eight countries – Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Great Britain, hosts Kosovo and Malta – will be represented.
Moving over to Oceania, the women’s youth and junior tournaments of the IHF Trophy Oceania will be staged in Nouméa, New Caledonia from 16 to 20 October 2023. The event serves as qualification event for the Intercontinental Phase of the IHF Trophy and will have six teams at the start – Australia, the Cook Islands, hosts New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Tonga.
The 2023 Pan American Games also have handball in their schedule, with the Gimnasio Polideportivo, located in Viña del Mar, Chile, hosting the men’s and the women’s competitions. The men’s competition is due to take place from 30 October to 4 November, while the women’s competition will be held between 24 and 29 October.
Eight sides will compete in the men’s and the women’s competition, with the winner progressing to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as the table for the exciting tournament next summer is starting to get complete.
Last, but not least, the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup 2023 will take place between 12 and 15 October in Porto Santo, Portugal. 16 teams have entered the fray in each competition, with an exciting weekend of beach handball on the cards on the sandy courts in Portugal.
Source: IHF
