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2011 World Men's Handball Championship

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Field	Value
tourney_name	World Men's Handball Championship
year	2011
other_titles	Världsmästerskapet i handboll för herrar 2011
image	2011 World Men's Handball Championship.png
country	Sweden
dates	13–30 January
num_teams	24
confederations	5
venues	8
cities	8
champion	FRA
count	4
second	DEN
third	ESP
fourth	SWE
matches	98
goals	5390
attendance	399019	top_scorer = Mikkel Hansen (68 goals)
player	Nikola Karabatić
previous	2009 World Men's Handball Championship
next	2013 World Men's Handball Championship

The 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, the 22nd event hosted by the International Handball Federation, was held in Sweden from 13 to 30 January 2011. All matches were played in Malmö, Lund, Kristianstad, Gothenburg, Skövde, Jönköping, Linköping and Norrköping.

In the preliminary round, 24 teams from all the world's continents were split into 4 groups, with the first-placed 3 teams advancing through the main round in two groups, carrying the previously won points against the remaining teams. France won the tournament after defeating Denmark in the final, while Spain won the bronze medal after defeating Sweden in the third-place match. Thus, France has qualified for the tournament at the London Olympics. The teams that finished in 2nd–7th place will play Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

The host broadcaster was the Swedish commercial network TV4 Sport and the television rights were sold to other countries.

One of the objectives of the championship was to create a multicultural party that extends far outside the handball arenas.

Venues

Malmö	Gothenburg	Linköping	Norrköping	Jönköping	{{center	{{location map+	Sweden South
Malmö Arena	Scandinavium	Cloetta Center	Himmelstalundshallen
Capacity: 13,000	Capacity: 12,044	Capacity: 8,500	Capacity: 4,300
[[File:Malmö Arena 2008.jpg	150px]]	[[File:Scandinavium Gbg by night.jpg	150px]]	[[File:Cloetta Center, Linköping, juli 2005.jpg	150px]]	[[File:Himmelstalundshallen i Norrköping, den 24 april 2007.JPG	150px]]
Kinnarps Arena	Arena Skövde
Capacity: 7,000	Capacity: 2,500
[[File:Kinnarps Arena inför match.JPG	150px]]	[[File:Arena Skövde.jpg	150px]]
Kristianstad Arena	FFS Arena
Capacity: 4,700	Capacity: 3,000
[[File:Kristianstad Arena in 2011.JPG	150px]]	[[File:F&fsa1d.jpg	150px]]

List of qualified teams

Bahrain and Chile qualified for their first ever handball World Championship. Austria qualified for the first time since 1993, which, coincidentally, was also hosted by Sweden.

The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament: ;EHF (14) :

(host) ;CAHB (3)

;AHF (3)

;PATHF (3)

;OHF (1)

Draw

The draw was held on 9 July 2010 at the Scandinavium at Gothenburg, Sweden.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6

Squads

Main article: 2011 World Men's Handball Championship squads

Each nation had to submit a squad of 16 players.

Match officials

On 25 October 2010, the match officials for the tournament were confirmed.

Referees
Algeria
Argentina
Brazil
Côte d'Ivoire
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Iran

Referees
Macedonia
Norway
Romania
Slovenia
Serbia
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
United Arab Emirates

Preliminary round

Twenty-four participating teams were placed in the following four groups. After playing a round-robin, the top three teams in each group advanced to the Main Round. The last three teams in each group played placement matches.

Tie-breaking criteria

For the three game group stage of this tournament, where two or more teams in a group tied on an equal number of points, the finishing positions will be determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order

number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question
goal difference in the matches among the teams in question
number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points)
goal difference in all the group matches
number of goals scored in all the group matches
drawing of lots

	Team advanced to Main Round