As the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships as well as the 2022 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U18) Beach Handball World Championships are edging closer, the date for the draw event has been set.

The 64 teams that qualified for Greece 2022 – 16 for each tournament – will learn their fate on Friday 13 May, when the draw will be held at the Aquila Atlantis Hotel in Heraklion, Crete, the location of the tournaments.

The Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports from Greece, Eleftherios Avgenakis, Hellenic Handball Federation President Konstantinos Gkantis and Konstantinos Violitzis, the President of the Organising Committee for Greece 2022 will be attending the draw.

Greece 2022 will be the first IHF Beach Handball World Championships since the 2018 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Kazan, Russia – and Greece will be the first host to organise both the Youth and Senior Beach Handball World Championships.

64 teams will take part in the four competitions, with the reigning champions in the senior women’s tournament, Greece, also being the hosts. The men’s senior champions, Brazil, will have a chance at defending their title as well, as they will aim for their sixth World Championship gold.

In the men’s senior tournament, hosts Greece, Ecuador, Portugal and Puerto Rico will make their debut, while in the women’s senior competition, the Netherlands are the only side who qualified for the first time.

Brazil are still the only side to have played in each and every of the nine editions of the IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship, while Brazil and Croatia are the only sides to qualify nine times for the IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship.

The 2022 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U18) Beach Handball World Championships will take place between 14 and 19 June, while the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships are set to be played between 21 and 26 June in the same venue, in Heraklion, Greece.

Participating teams

Men's competition

Hosts: Greece (GRE)
Reigning champions: Brazil (BRA)
Asia: Iran (IRI), Qatar (QAT)
Africa: Egypt (EGY)
Europe: Croatia (CRO), Denmark (DEN), Norway (NOR), Portugal (POR), Spain (ESP)
North America and the Caribbean: Puerto Rico (PUR), United States of America (USA)
Oceania: New Zealand (NZL)
South and Central America: Argentina (ARG), Ecuador (ECU), Uruguay (URU)

Women's competition

Hosts and reigning champions: Greece (GRE)
Asia: Thailand (THA), Vietnam (VIE)
Europe: Denmark (DEN), Germany (GER), Hungary (HUN), Netherlands (NED), Norway (NOR), Portugal (POR), Spain (ESP)
North America and the Caribbean: Mexico (MEX), United States of America (USA)
Oceania: Australia (AUS)
South and Central America: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BRA), Uruguay (URU)

Men's youth competition

Hosts: Greece (GRE)
Asia: Iran (IRI), Jordan (JOR), Qatar (QAT)
Africa: Togo (TOG)
Europe: Croatia (CRO), Czech Republic (CZE), France (FRA), Germany (GER), Spain (ESP), Sweden (SWE), Ukraine (UKR)
North America and the Caribbean: United States of America (USA)
South and Central America: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BRA), Uruguay (URU)

Women's youth competition

Hosts: Greece (GRE)
Asia: Hong Kong (HKG), India (IND), Thailand (THA)
Europe: Hungary (HUN), France (FRA), Germany (GER), Netherlands (NED), Poland (POL), Romania (ROU), Spain (ESP), Ukraine (UKR)
North America and the Caribbean: Puerto Rico (PUR)
South and Central America: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BRA), Uruguay (URU)

Draw procedure

As organisers, Greece have the right to choose the group in which they will compete. This applies for all four competitions.

Pots men's competition

Pot 1: BRA, ARG, DEN, CRO
Pot 2: ESP, GRE, POR, NOR
Pot 3: IRI, QAT, URU, USA
Pot 4: NZL, ECU, PUR, EGY

The pots will be drawn in the following order: 1-3-4-2.

Pots women's competition

Pot 1: GRE, GER, DEN, ARG
Pot 2: ESP, NOR, POR, NED
Pot 3: BRA, VIE, URU, MEX
Pot 4: THA, USA, AUS, HUN

The pots will be drawn in the following order: 2-3-4-1.

Pots men's youth competition

Pot 1: SWE, ESP, BRA, UKR
Pot 2: ARG, GRE, IRI, CRO
Pot 3: JOR, QAT, GER, TOG
Pot 4: FRA, URU, USA, CZE

The pots will be drawn in the following order: 1-3-4-2.

Pots women's youth competition

Pot 1: HUN, NED, ARG, ESP
Pot 2: GER, GRE, THA, IND
Pot 3: HKG, BRA, POL, FRA
Pot 4: URU, UKR, PUR, ROU

The pots will be drawn in the following order: 1-3-4-2.

The draw will be streamed live via the YouTube page of the Hellenic Handball Federation.