1997 World Men's Handball Championship

The 1997 World Men's Handball Championship was the 15th team handball World Championship. It was held in Kumamoto, Japan and was the first World Championship not played in a European country. Russia won the championship.

Qualification

Venues

The organizing committee used four venues to host the 1997 World Men's Handball Championship:

Group A: Park Dome Kumamoto
Group B: Kumamoto City Gym
Group C: Yamaga City Gym
Group D: Yatsushiro City Gym

Preliminary round

The top 4 placed teams of each group continues to the knockout stage. The teams are ranked through the following rules.

Team with the most points (2 points for each won game, 1 point for each drawn game).
If two teams get the same points, the winner in the game between the two teams get ranked first.
If the game between the teams ended in a draw, the team with the best goal difference get ranked first.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Final round

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Placement matches

7th place match

5th place match

Semi-finals

Bronze final

Final

Final standings

Medalists

All Star Team

Goalkeeper: Mats Olsson
Left Wing: Valery Gopin
Left Back: Vasily Kudinov
Center Back: Talant Duyshebaev
Right Back: Staffan Olsson
Right Wing: Valdimar GrÃÂmsson