The 2013 World Women's Handball Championship, the 21st event hosted by the International Handball Federation (IHF), was held in Serbia from 6 to 22 December 2013.
Brazil defeated Serbia 22âÂÂ20 in the final and became the first IHF world champions from the Americas.
Five venues in four cities had been selected to host the matches:
South Korea was the other applicant for the championship. The decision to select Serbia as the host was announced on 2 October 2010.
The draw was held on 15 June 2013 at 11:30 local time.
All times are local ().
Twenty-four participating teams were placed in the following four groups. After playing a round-robin, the top four teams in each group advanced to the Knockout stage. The last two teams in each group played placement matches.
If two or more teams have finished tied on an equal number of points, the finishing positions were set to be determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order
The final was played at the Kombank Arena between Brazil and the host Serbia and was attended by 19,467 spectators. Referees of the match were Spain's Andreu MarÃÂn and Ignacio GarcÃÂa. It was the first final ever for both teams with Brazil's previous best result being fifth place at the 2011 World Championship and third place for Serbia at the 2001 World Championship (then as FR Yugoslavia). Both teams advanced to the final after playing in Group B of the group stage with Brazil winning their match in the third round 25âÂÂ23. On the way to the final in the knockout stage Brazil defeated the Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark, while Serbia won its matches against South Korea, Norway and Poland.
The game started with an early 3âÂÂ1 lead for the Brazilians, but Serbia came from behind to level the result and took control of the match with an 8âÂÂ6 lead. Serbian players had the last lead in the match at 10âÂÂ9 before Brazil went on with a 4âÂÂ0 run to take a three-goals lead 13âÂÂ10. The Serbian team scored before halftime to make it 13âÂÂ11 at the break. In the second half, Brazil started furiously scoring three goals in a row to extend the lead to a margin of five making the result 16âÂÂ11 in their favour. The Serbians did not give up and managed to cut their opponent's comfortable lead to only one goal with a 4âÂÂ0 series. One of the driving forces for the comeback was the goalkeeper Katarina Tomaà ¡eviàwho saved two penalties in one minute. The final entered with a tied result at 19âÂÂ19 in the last four minutes. Brazil scored to take the lead, which was answered with an equaliser brought by Andrea Lekiàto make it 20âÂÂ20. The Brazilian team took the lead again and after Dragana Cvijiàmissed to score for her team, Ana Paula Belo scored to finish the match and set the final result 22âÂÂ20. Alexandra do Nascimento with six and Cvijiàwith five goals were the best scorers for the two finalists. Brazil became the first South American country to win the World Women's Handball Championship and only the second non-European (after South Korea) to do so.
<small>According to the IHF.</small>
<small>Chosen by team officials and IHF experts: IHF.info</small>
<small>Source: IHF.info</small>
<small>Source: IHF.info</small>