2003 World Men's Handball Championship

The 2003 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Portugal from January 20 to February 2, 2003.

Qualified teams

24 teams were qualified for the first round and dispatched into 4 groups.

Group A : hb|KUW, hb|MAR, hb|POL, hb|ESP, hb|TUN, hb|FR Yugoslavia.

Group B : hb|AUS, hb|GER, hb|GRL, hb|ISL, hb|POR, hb|QAT.

Group C : hb|ARG, hb|CRO, hb|FRA, hb|HUN, hb|RUS, hb|KSA.

Group D : hb|ALG, hb|BRA, hb|DEN, hb|EGY, hb|SLO, hb|SWE.

First round

The first 4 teams of each group qualify for the second round.

Group A in Guimarães

*"Monday, January 20th:"
**Tunisia 29 - 20 Kuwait
**Yugoslavia 24 - 20 Poland
**Spain 23 - 18 Morocco

*"Tuesday, January 21st:"
**Kuwait 14 - 36 Yugoslavia
**Morocco 24 - 28 Tunisia
**Poland 25 - 34 Spain

*"Thursday, January 23rd:"
**Morocco 22 - 25 Kuwait
**Tunisia 22 - 24 Poland
**Spain 22 - 20 Yugoslavia

*"Saturday, January 25th:"
**Spain 45 - 18 Kuwait
**Yugoslavia 28 - 27 Tunisia
**Poland 35 - 29 Morocco

*"Sunday, January 26th:"
**Tunisie 25 - 33 Spain
**Yugoslavia 34 - 20 Morocco
**Poland 36 - 21 Kuwait

tandings

Croatia is ranked before France thanks to its victory in the game between those two teams.

Group D in São João da Madeira

*"Monday, January 20th:"
**Algeria 22 - 22 Brazil
**Sweden 29 - 23 Egypt
**Denmark 33 - 24 Slovenia

*"Tuesday, January 21st:"
**Egypt 25 - 25 Algeria
**Slovenia 29 - 25 Sweden
**Brazil 24 - 28 Denmark

*"Thursday, January 23rd:"
**Slovenia 26 - 27 Egypt
**Sweden 29 - 21 Brazil
**Denmark 22 - 19 Algeria

*"Saturday, January 25th:"
**Algeria 28 - 32 Sweden
**Brazil 27 - 30 Slovenia
**Denmark 35 - 26 Egypt

*"Sunday, January 26th:"
**Denmark 28 - 32 Sweden
**Brazil 24 - 31 Egypt
**Algeria 25 - 35 Slovenia

tandings

Group III in Rio Maior

*"Wednesday, January 29th:"
**Croatia 29 - 23 Egypt
**Denmark 28 - 35 Russia

*"Thursday, January 30th:"
**Russia 29 - 22 Egypt
**Croatia 33 - 27 Denmark

tandings

Group IV in Espinho

*"Wednesday, January 29th:"
**Sweden 33 - 32 Hungary
**France 31 - 22 Slovenia

*"Thursday, January 30th:"
**Sweden 24 - 30 France
**Slovenia 25 - 28 Hungary

tandings

Ranking games in Lisboa

*"Saturday, February 1st"
** places 5 to 8:
*** Yugoslavia 33 - 34 Hungary (overtime)
*** Iceland 27 - 30 Russia

*"Sunday, February 2nd"
** places 7 and 8:
*** Iceland 32 - 27 Yugoslavia
** places 5 and 6:
*** Russia 30 - 25 Hungary

emi-finals in Lisboa

*"Saturday, February 1st"
** Germany 23 - 22 France
** Spain 37 - 39 Croatia (overtime)

Bronze medal game in Lisboa

*"Sunday, February 2nd"
**Spain 22 - 27 France

Final in Lisboa

*"Sunday, February 2nd"
**Croatia 34 - 31 Germany

Final standings

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The first 7 teams were qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Christian Schwarzer (Germany) was named MVP of the tournament.