World Championship tickets on the line in final qualifiers

The three host nations, plus Denmark's fellow EHF EURO 2024 semi-final participants France, Sweden and Germany have already guaranteed their places, meaning 17 of the 32 places at the world championship will be taken by European nations.

The 11 remaining places will be take by Sunday evening (12 May), after the last of the two-legged ties in Part 2 have been completed.

Five first leg ties are set for Wednesday, with the first being Greece's meeting with the Netherlands in Kozani. Despite losing all three matches at EHF EURO 2024, Greece showed great spirit, and will provide a stern test for the Dutch before the return leg in Eindhoven on 12 May.

One of the most eye-catching first legs on Wednesday is the meeting between Spain and Serbia in Lalin-Pontevedra. Both sides will want to right the wrongs of a disappointing EHF EURO 2024 by their standards, and will be desperate not to miss out on the world championship all together.

Estonia overcame Ukraine in Phase 2 Part 1, and their reward is a meeting with Iceland. Faroe Islands will want another taste of major tournament action, but standing in their way is regular qualifiers North Macedonia, while Romania and Czechia, both eliminated in the preliminary round in Germany, do battle for qualification.

Thursday sees a local derby between Poland and Slovakia in Gdansk. Slovakia got the better in the previous round against Israel and are aiming for a first world championship appearance since 2011, while Poland reached the Main Round as hosts in 2023.

The other two Phase 2 Part 1 victors, Italy and Lithuania, both host the first legs against Montenegro and Hungary, respectively. Bosnia Herzegovina face a potentially difficult trip to Portugal, while Georgia welcome Austria to Tbilisi.

The return leg between Estonia and Iceland in Tallinn will be played on Saturday 11 May, while the other 10 second legs will take place on Sunday 12 May.

All first and second leg matches in Qualification Europe Phase 2 Part 2 will be shown live on EHFTV.

The final tournament begins on 14 January 2025, and is hosted by the Croatian cities of Zagreb, Varaždin and Poreč, Oslo in Norway and Herning in Denmark. The final will be played in Oslo on 2 February 2025.

Along with the six European teams assured of a place, Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Egypt, Guinea, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tunisia and the United States have qualified thus far.

Photos © Eva Manhart / kolektiff, RADOVAN STOKLASA, Estonian Handball Association