The People’s Republic of China becomes the 18th nation to play in the 2025 Women’s World Championship. A decision by the IHF council awards a Wild Card to the potential Handball giant.
The process of distributing Wild Cards is a much debated solution though very much in by IHF for major tournament. In the case of WC 2025 two Wild Cards will be given to non-qualified nations.
China has participated in all worldwide championships in the 21st century and reached place number 28 in the last edition. In 2024 South Korea and Kazakhstan eliminated the huge nation in the group stage of the Asian Championship thus excluding China from 2025 qualification.
”The People’s Republic of China submitted a request for a wild card and, following the proposal of the IHF Executive Committee, the request was presented to the IHF Council, which considered the importance of the development of handball in Asia in general and the Chinese market in particular, taking into account that the People’s Republic of China has been part of the IHF New Markets’ Project for many years”, writes IHF on its webpage.
”Based on their good performances in the previous editions of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship – where China won against Czechia and North Macedonia and finished 15th – and of the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship – where the Asian side finished also on the 15th place – the consideration was that China have made notable steps in their development”, the International Handball Federation continues.
The tournament will be played in Germany and the Netherlands with the final weekend in Rotterdam.
Source: PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA GRANTED WILD CARD FOR THE 2025 IHF WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP