The draw for the 2025 Men's World Championship Qualification Europe event was announced this week (5th July 2023). This draw focused on allocating all 37 nations into the appropriate phase of the competition based on national team rankings.
The participants for the Qualification Phase 1 were as follows:
GBR was drawn against Finland for Phase 1, and the competition will consist of a home and away leg across November 2023.
GBR will host Finland first, on either November 1st or 2nd.
GBR will then travel to Finland and play the second leg on Saturday 4th November in Karjaa.
The five winners of the Qualification Phase 1 will progress into Phase 2, part 1 which will be a knock out home and away system in March 2024.
Phase 2, part 2 will also be a knock put phase with teams entering from the EHF EURO 2024 and competing for the final slots of the 2025 world Championships. This phase will take place in May 2024.
Head Coach Ricardo Vasconcelos says, "It is a tough draw to be placed against Finland as they are a strong opponent. However, the key aspect is that we are facing teams of the level we need to reach in our path, and we are very excited to do so, and benchmark and continue our progress. It's even more exciting to do this with the opportunity of playing matches at home, after so many years without any official matches in the UK. It will be an amazing opportunity to showcase our sport and inspire the upcoming generations."
