| Tourney Name: | World Men's Handball Championship |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Dates: | 20 January–2 February |
| Num Teams: | 24 |
| Confederations: | 5 |
| Venues: | 9 |
| Cities: | 9 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 84 |
| Goals: | 4641 |
| Top Scorer: | (64 goals) |
| Previous: | 2001 World Men's Handball Championship |
| Next: | 2005 World Men's Handball Championship |
The 2003 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Portugal from 20 January to 2 February 2003. It was the 18th edition of the World Championship in team handball and Croatia won the championship.
9 cities were hosts for the tournament. The final match took place in the capital Lisbon.
| Town | Stadium | max. spectators | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | Pavilhão Atlântico | 15.000 | |
| Rio Maior | Pavilhão Polidesportivo | 6.500 | |
| São João da Madeira | Pavilhão das Travessas | 6.000 | |
| Guimarães | Pavilhão Multiusos | 3.000 | |
| Viseu | Viseu Arena | 2.600 | |
| Funchal | Madeira Tecnopolo | 2.500 | |
| Caminha | Pavilhão Municipal | 2.500 | |
| Póvoa de Varzim | Pavilhão Desportivo | 2.500 | |
| Espinho | Pavilhão Multiusos NW | 2.000 |
| Lisbon | Rio Maior | São João da Madeira | Guimarães | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pavilhão Atlântico | Pavilhão Polidesportivo | Pavilhão das Travessas | Pavilhão Multiusos | |
| Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 6,500 | Capacity: 6,000 | Capacity: 3,000 | |
| Viseu | ||||
| Viseu Arena | ||||
| Capacity: 2,600 | ||||
| Funchal | Caminha | Póvoa de Varzim | Espinho | |
| Madeira Tecnopolo | Pavilhão Municipal | Pavilhão Desportivo | Pavilhão Multiusos NW | |
| Capacity: 2,500 | Capacity: 2,500 | Capacity: 2,500 | Capacity: 2,000 | |
| Competition | Dates | Vacancies | Qualified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 | |||
| 23 January – 4 February 2001 | 1 | |||
| 25 January – 3 February 2002 | 3 | |||
| 10–19 February 2002 | 3 | |||
| 19–28 April 2002 | 4 | |||
| 5–7 July 2002 | 1 | |||
| European qualification | 8 January – 9 July 2002 | 8 | ||
| 10–14 July 2002 | 3 |
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| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 | |
| 13 | |
| 14 | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 19 | |
| 20 | |
| 21 | |
| 22 | |
| 23 | |
| 24 | |
| width=10px bgcolor=#ccffcc | ||
| Ineligible to qualify for the Olympics: Greenland do not have a National Olympic Committee recognized by the IOC |
MVP: Christian Schwarzer
Eduard Koksharov
Carlos Pérez
Enric Masip
Patrick Cazal| Rank | Name | Team | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Pérez | 64 | ||
| 2 | Hussein Zaky | 61 | ||
| 3 | Ólafur Stefánsson | 58 | ||
| 4 | László Nagy | 51 | ||
| Aleksey Rastvortsev | ||||
| 6 | Markus Baur | 50 | ||
| Ivan Simonovič | ||||
| 8 | Stefan Kretzschmar | 48 | ||
| Florian Kehrmann | ||||
| 10 | Petar Metličić | 46 |
| Rank | Name | Team | Saves | Shots | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrey Lavrov | 109 | 325 | 33.5 | ||
| 2 | Henning Fritz | 99 | 256 | 38.7 | ||
| 3 | Arpad Sterbik | 97 | 216 | 44.9 | ||
| 4 | José Javier Hombrados | 94 | 198 | 47.5 | ||
| 5 | Nándor Fazekas | 88 | 231 | 38.1 | ||
| 6 | Vlado Šola | 78 | 196 | 39.8 | ||
| 7 | Dejan Perić | 71 | 180 | 39.4 | ||
| 8 | Sławomir Szmal | 69 | 155 | 44.5 | ||
| 9 | Beno Lapajne | 68 | 188 | 36.2 | ||
| 10 | Kasper Hvidt | 68 | 206 | 33.0 |
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |