Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

The qualification for the 2016 Men's Olympic Handball Tournament was held from January 2015 to April 2016. Twelve teams qualified, the hosts, the world champion, four continental event winners and six teams from the World Olympic qualification tournaments respectively.

Qualification summary

Mean of qualification	Date	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	2 October 2009	Copenhagen	1	Brazil
2015 World Championship	15 January – 1 February 2015	Qatar	1	France
2015 Pan American Games	16–25 July 2015	Toronto	1	Argentina
2015 Asian Qualification Tournament	14–27 November 2015	Doha	1	Qatar
2016 European Championship	15–31 January 2016	Poland	1	Germany
2016 African Championship	21–30 January 2016	Cairo	1	Egypt
2016 Olympic Qualification Tournaments	8–10 April 2016	Gdańsk	2	Poland
				Tunisia
		Malmö	2	Slovenia
				Sweden
		Herning	2	Denmark
				Croatia
Total			12

Legend for qualification type

Legend for qualification type
Team qualified from the World Championship directly to the 2016 Olympic Tournament
Team qualified from Continental Events directly to the 2016 Olympic Tournament
Team qualified from the World Championship to the Olympic Qualification Tournaments
Team qualified from Continental Events to the Olympic Qualification Tournaments

Host country

•  Brazil

World Championship

Main article: 2015 World Men's Handball Championship

Rank	Team
	France
	Qatar
	Poland
4	Spain
5	Denmark
6	Croatia
7	Germany
8	Slovenia
9	North Macedonia
10	Sweden
11	Iceland
12	Argentina
13	Austria
14	Egypt
15	Tunisia
16	Brazil
17	Czech Republic
18	Belarus
19	Russia
20	Bosnia and Herzegovina
21	Iran
22	Saudi Arabia
23	Chile
24	Algeria

Continental qualification

Europe (1st ranking continent)

Main article: 2016 European Men's Handball Championship

Rank	Team
	Germany
	Spain
	Croatia
4	Norway
5	France
6	Denmark
7	Poland
8	Sweden
9	Russia
10	Belarus
11	North Macedonia
12	Hungary
13	Iceland
14	Slovenia
15	Serbia
16	Montenegro

Asia (2nd ranking continent)

The tournament was held from 14 to 27 November 2015 in Doha, Qatar.^[1][2] It included Oceania champion's Australia.

All times are local (UTC+3).

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	4	4	0	0	142	81	+61	8	Advance to semifinals
2	South Korea	4	3	0	1	124	90	+34	6
3	Iraq	4	2	0	2	103	105	−2	4
4	China	4	1	0	3	101	135	−34	2
5	Australia	4	0	0	4	70	129	−59	0

Source: Asianhandball
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

15 November 2015 17:00	Iraq	20–26	South Korea	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(8–11)

15 November 2015 19:00	China	29–24	Australia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–8)

---

17 November 2015 17:00	China	24–43	Bahrain	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(11–20)

17 November 2015 19:00	Iraq	32–19	Australia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–7)

---

19 November 2015 17:00	Bahrain	35–16	Iraq	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(18–5)

19 November 2015 19:00	Australia	16–35	South Korea	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(7–18)

---

21 November 2015 17:00	South Korea	33–23	China	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–8)

21 November 2015 19:00	Bahrain	33–11	Australia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(21–3)

---

23 November 2015 17:00	Iraq	35–25	China	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–13)

23 November 2015 19:00	Bahrain	31–30	South Korea	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(12–19)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	5	5	0	0	177	88	+89	10	Advance to semifinals
2	Iran	5	4	0	1	150	132	+18	8
3	Japan	5	3	0	2	150	128	+22	6
4	Saudi Arabia	5	2	0	3	126	135	−9	4
5	Oman	5	1	0	4	140	167	−27	2
6	Uzbekistan	5	0	0	5	101	194	−93	0

Source: Asianhandball
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

14 November 2015 15:00	Japan	27–19	Saudi Arabia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(16–13)

14 November 2015 17:00	Oman	31–39	Iran	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(14–18)

14 November 2015 19:00	Uzbekistan	9–49	Qatar	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(4–24)

---

16 November 2015 15:00	Saudi Arabia	29–23	Oman	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–12)

16 November 2015 17:00	Uzbekistan	18–33	Iran	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(8–17)

16 November 2015 19:00	Japan	19–36	Qatar	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(9–16)

---

18 November 2015 15:00	Iran	31–27	Japan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(14–15)

18 November 2015 17:00	Qatar	29–23	Saudi Arabia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(16–15)

18 November 2015 19:00	Oman	39–33	Uzbekistan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(22–14)

---

20 November 2015 15:00	Oman	27–35	Japan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(15–18)

20 November 2015 17:00	Saudi Arabia	31–26	Uzbekistan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(19–13)

20 November 2015 19:00	Iran	17–32	Qatar	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(8–16)

---

22 November 2015 15:00	Qatar	31–20	Oman	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(14–8)

22 November 2015 17:00	Japan	42–15	Uzbekistan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(19–9)

22 November 2015 19:00	Iran	30–24	Saudi Arabia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(14–11)

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	25 November
	Bahrain	30
					27 November
	Iran	35
					Iran	19
	25 November
					Qatar	28
	Qatar	30
	South Korea	26
					Third place
					27 November
					Bahrain	34
					South Korea	21

5th place bracket

	Semi-finals				Fifth Place
	25 November
	Iraq	31
					26 November
	Saudi Arabia	33
					Saudi Arabia	27
	25 November
					Japan	38
	Japan	40
	China	24
					Seventh Place
					26 November
					Iraq	38
					China	27

9–11th place semifinal

25 November 2015 10:00	Australia	30–25	Uzbekistan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–14)

5–8th place semifinals

25 November 2015 12:00	Iraq	31–33	Saudi Arabia	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–19)

---

25 November 2015 14:00	Japan	40–24	China	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–10)

Semifinals

25 November 2015 16:00	Bahrain	30–35	Iran	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(12–16)

---

25 November 2015 18:00	Qatar	30–26	South Korea	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(14–9)

Ninth place game

26 November 2015 14:00	Australia	24–30	Oman	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(11–11)

Seventh place game

26 November 2015 16:00	Iraq	38–27	China	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(15–11)

Fifth place game

26 November 2015 18:00	Saudi Arabia	27–38	Japan	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–14)

Third place game

27 November 2015 16:00	Bahrain	34–21	South Korea	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(17–10)

Final

27 November 2015 18:00	Iran	19–28	Qatar	Duhail Handball Sports Hall, Doha
		(11–15)

Final ranking

Rank	Team
	Qatar
	Iran
	Bahrain
4	South Korea
5	Japan
6	Saudi Arabia
7	Iraq
8	China
9	Oman
10	Australia
11	Uzbekistan

America (3rd ranking continent)

Main article: Handball at the 2015 Pan American Games – Men's tournament

Rank	Team
	Brazil
	Argentina
	Chile
4	Uruguay
5	Puerto Rico
6	Cuba
7	Canada
8	Dominican Republic

Africa (4th ranking continent)

Main article: 2016 African Men's Handball Championship

Rank	Team
	Egypt
	Tunisia
	Angola
4	Algeria
5	Cameroon
6	Morocco
7	DR Congo
8	Congo
9	Libya
10	Nigeria
11	Gabon
12	Kenya

Olympic Qualification Tournaments

The Olympic Qualification Tournaments were held on 8–10 April 2016. Only twelve teams that have not yet qualified through the five events mentioned above could play in the tournament:

• The top six teams from the World championship that did not already qualify through their continental championships were eligible to participate in the tournament.
• The best ranked teams of each continent in the World championship represented the continent in order to determine the continental ranking. The first ranked continent received two more places for the tournament. The second, third and fourth ranked continent received one place each. The last place belongs to a team from Oceania, if one was ranked between 8th–12th at the World Championship. As no team from Oceania met this condition, the second ranked continent received an extra place instead. The teams that already earned their places through their World championship ranking will not be considered for receiving places through the continental criterion.
• The twelve teams were allocated in three pools of four teams according to the table below. The top two teams from each pool qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games.^[3][4]

2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament #1	2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament #2	2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament #3
3rd from World:  Poland 9th from World:  Macedonia 3rd from Americas:  Chile 2nd from Africa:  Tunisia	4th from World:  Spain 8th from World:  Slovenia 2nd from Asia:  Iran 8th from Europe:  Sweden	5th from World:  Denmark 6th from World:  Croatia 4th from Europe:  Norway 3rd from Asia:  Bahrain

2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament #1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poland (H)	3	3	0	0	88	71	+17	6	Qualification to 2016 Summer Olympics
2	Tunisia	3	2	0	1	91	83	+8	4
3	Macedonia	3	1	0	2	76	84	−8	2
4	Chile	3	0	0	3	83	100	−17	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

All times are local (UTC+2).

8 April 2016 18:00	Chile	29–35	Tunisia	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk / Sopot Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Kolahdouzan, Mousavian (IRN)
	Salinas 11	(12–17)	Boughanmi 11
	4× 6× 1×	Report	2× 8×

8 April 2016 20:30	Poland	25–20	Macedonia	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk / Sopot Attendance: 10,000 Referees: Pálsson, Eliasson (ISL)
	Bielecki 7	(13–9)	Lazarov 8
	3× 4×	Report	4× 5×

---

9 April 2016 18:30	Macedonia	26–32	Tunisia	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk / Sopot Attendance: 4,500 Referees: Hansen, Gjeding (DEN)
	Lazarov 8	(10–17)	Boughanmi 7
	3× 6×	Report	2× 8×

9 April 2016 20:30	Poland	35–27	Chile	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk / Sopot Attendance: 9,500 Referees: Pálsson, Eliasson (ISL)
	Daszek, Szyba 5	(19–13)	Erw. Feuchtmann, Maurin 6
	3× 7×	Report	3× 9×

---

10 April 2016 18:00	Macedonia	30–27	Chile	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk / Sopot Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Hansen, Gjeding (DEN)
	Kosteski 6	(17–14)	Erw. Feuchtmann 10
	3× 5×	Report	3× 7×

10 April 2016 20:30	Tunisia	24–28	Poland	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk / Sopot Attendance: 6,500 Referees: Kolahdouzan, Mousavian (IRN)
	Bannour 5	(13–15)	Bielecki 7
	4× 5×	Report	3× 6×

2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament #2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovenia	3	2	0	1	80	62	+18	4[a]	Qualification to 2016 Summer Olympics
2	Sweden (H)	3	2	0	1	81	67	+14	4[a]
3	Spain	3	2	0	1	83	70	+13	4[a]
4	Iran	3	0	0	3	59	104	−45	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1. Slovenia 2 Pts, 47–45 GD; Sweden 2 Pts, 47–48 GD; Spain 2 Pts, 46–47 GD

Head-to-head table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovenia	2	1	0	1	47	45	+2	2	Qualified
2	Sweden	2	1	0	1	47	48	−1	2
3	Spain	2	1	0	1	46	47	−1	2	Missed

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

All times are local (UTC+2).

8 April 2016 17:00	Spain	21–24	Slovenia	Malmö Arena, Malmö Attendance: 2,264 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Rivera 6	(16–12)	Dolenec 6
	3× 4×	Report	3× 7×

8 April 2016 19:15	Iran	19–34	Sweden	Malmö Arena, Malmö Attendance: 4,328 Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Nosrati 4	(9–16)	three players 6
	3× 3×	Report	3× 1×

---

9 April 2016 16:15	Spain	37–23	Iran	Malmö Arena, Malmö Attendance: 4,288 Referees: Menezes, Pinto (BRA)
	Ugalde 9	(18–12)	Norouzinejad 6
	4×	Report	3× 3×

9 April 2016 18:30	Slovenia	23–24	Sweden	Malmö Arena, Malmö Attendance: 8,653 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Kavtičnik 8	(9–12)	Andersson, Gottfridsson 5
	4× 5×	Report	4× 5×

---

10 April 2016 16:30	Sweden	23–25	Spain	Malmö Arena, Malmö Attendance: 8,253 Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Nilsson 6	(11–12)	Rivera 9
	3× 6×	Report	4× 4×

10 April 2016 18:45	Slovenia	33–17	Iran	Malmö Arena, Malmö Attendance: 655 Referees: Menezes, Pinto (BRA)
	Marguč 8	(17–8)	Norouzinejad 4
	3× 3×	Report	2× 2×

2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament #3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark (H)	3	2	1	0	79	73	+6	5	Qualification to 2016 Summer Olympics
2	Croatia	3	2	0	1	84	71	+13	4
3	Norway	3	1	1	1	81	81	0	3
4	Bahrain	3	0	0	3	75	94	−19	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

All times are local (UTC+2).

8 April 2016 18:00	Norway	35–29	Bahrain	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 8,700 Referees: Rashed, El-Sayed (EGY)
	Bjørnsen 10	(16–15)	M. Al-Maqabi 6
	3× 2×	Report	3× 1× 1×

8 April 2016 20:30	Denmark	28–24	Croatia	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 12,000 Referees: López, Ramírez (ESP)
	Hansen 8	(11–9)	Štrlek 7
	3× 3×	Report	4× 3×

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9 April 2016 18:00	Croatia	33–22	Bahrain	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Rashed, El-Sayed (EGY)
	Štrlek 8	(14–14)	Al-Fardan 5
	3× 6×	Report	3× 2×

9 April 2016 20:30	Denmark	25–25	Norway	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Ștefan, Stark (ROU)
	Hansen 5	(12–13)	three players 5
	3× 3×	Report	4× 3×

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10 April 2016 18:00	Croatia	27–21	Norway	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 4,000 Referees: López, Ramírez (ESP)
	Duvnjak 6	(14–7)	Jøndal 6
	2× 4×	Report	3× 5×

10 April 2016 20:30	Bahrain	24–26	Denmark	Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 5,500 Referees: Ștefan, Stark (ROU)
	Al-Salatna, Habib 4	(12–12)	Mortensen, Svan 5
	2× 6×	Report	2× 3×