| Current Season: | 2025 World Women's Handball Championship |
| Sport: | Handball |
| Teams: | 32 (finals) |
| Continent: | International (IHF) |
| Champion: | (3rd title) |
| Most Champs: | (4 titles each) |
The IHF Women's Handball World Championship has been organized by the International Handball Federation since 1957. European teams have won every time except 1995 where South Korea won as the first team outside Europe and 2013 where Brazil won as the first American team. The biggest winners are Russia and Norway with four titles each.
Nine teams participated in the first championship, this number has grown in steps to 32 (from 2021). In 1977 a B-tournament was introduced and later in 1986 a C-tournament which served as qualification for the real championship or A-tournament. The B- and C-tournament qualifications were replaced by the present qualification system based on continental confederations in 1993.[1]
From 1993 it has been held every other year. Between 1978 and 1990 it was held every fourth alternating with the Olympic tournament (introduced for women handball in 1976). The first five tournaments were held in the summer or early fall whereas the rest has been held in November or December.[1]
| Year | Host | width=1% rowspan=33 bgcolor=ffffff | Final | width=1% rowspan=5 bgcolor=ffffff | Third place match | width=1% rowspan=5 bgcolor=#ffffff | Teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=14% | Champions | width=9% | Score | width=14% | Runners-up | width=14% | Third place | width=9% | Score | width=14% | Fourth place | |||
| 1957 Details | Yugoslavia | 7–1 | 9–6 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 1962 Details |  Romania | 8–5 | 6–5 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 1965 Details | West Germany | 5–3 | 11–10 | 8 | ||||||||||
| 1968 | Soviet Union | The tournament was cancelled due to the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia | ||||||||||||
| 1971 Details | Netherlands | 11–8 | width=1% rowspan=27 bgcolor=ffffff | 12–11 (2ET) | width=1% rowspan=27 bgcolor=ffffff | 9 | ||||||||
| 1973 Details | Yugoslavia | 16–11 | 20–12 | 12 | ||||||||||
| 1975 Details | Soviet Union | Round-robin | Round-robin | 12 | ||||||||||
| 1978 Details | Czechoslovakia | Round-robin | Round-robin | 12 | ||||||||||
| 1982 Details |  Hungary | Round-robin | Round-robin | 12 | ||||||||||
| 1986 Details | Netherlands | 30–22 | 23–19 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 1990 Details |  South Korea | 24–22 | 25–19 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 1993 Details |  Norway | 22–21 (ET) | 20–19 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 1995 Details |  Austria / Hungary | 25–20 | 25–24 | 20 | ||||||||||
| 1997 Details | Germany | 33–20 | 27–25 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 1999 Details | Norway / Denmark | 25–24 (2ET) | 31–28 (ET) | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2001 Details |  Italy | 30–25 | 42–40 (ET) | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2003 Details | Croatia | 32–29 (ET) | 31–29 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2005 Details |  Russia | 28–23 | 27–24 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2007 Details |  France | 29–24 | 36–35 (ET) | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2009 Details |  China | 25–22 | 31–26 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2011 Details |  Brazil | 32–24 | 24–18 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2013 Details |  Serbia | 22–20 | 30–26 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2015 Details | Denmark | 31–23 | 31–22 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2017 Details | Germany | 23–21 | 24–21 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2019 Details |  Japan | 30–29 | 33–28 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 2021 Details |  Spain | 29–22 | 35–28 | 32 | ||||||||||
| 2023 Details |  | 31–28 | 28–27 | 32 | ||||||||||
| 2025 Details | Germany / Netherlands | 32 | ||||||||||||
| 2027 Details | Hungary | 32 | ||||||||||||
| 2029 Details | 32 | |||||||||||||
| 2031 Details | 32 | |||||||||||||
IHF only includes medals won at the indoor championships.[2]
See main article: National team appearances in the World Women's Handball Championship. Source: IHF official site.[2] Since first entering the tournament in 1957, Romania are the only team to have appeared in all 26 tournaments to date.
Boldface denotes active handball players and highest medal count among all players (including these who not included in these tables) per type.
The table shows players who have won at least 3 gold medals at the World Championships.
| Rank | Player | Country | From | To | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camilla Herrem | 2009 | 2023 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| 2 | Stine Bredal Oftedal | 2011 | 2023 | 3 | 2 | – | 5 | |
| 3 | 1982 | 1990 | 3 | – | – | 3 | ||
| 1971 | 1978 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1956 | 1962 | 3 ** | – | – | 3 ** | |||
| 1956 | 1962 | 3 ** | – | – | 3 ** | |||
| 2001 | 2007 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1956 | 1962 | 3 ** | – | – | 3 ** | |||
| 1971 | 1978 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 2001 | 2009 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 2001 | 2007 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 2005 | 2009 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1971 | 1978 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 2001 | 2007 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1956 | 1962 | 3 ** | – | – | 3 ** | |||
| 1956 | 1962 | 3 ** | – | – | 3 ** | |||
| 2001 | 2009 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1956 | 1962 | 3 ** | – | – | 3 ** | |||
| 2005 | 2009 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1971 | 1978 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1971 | 1978 | 3 | – | – | 3 |
The table shows players who have won at least 4 medals in total at the World Championships.
| Rank | Player | Country | From | To | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camilla Herrem | 2009 | 2023 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2 | Katrine Lunde (Haraldsen) | 2007 | 2023 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3 | Stine Bredal Oftedal | 2011 | 2023 | 3 | 2 | – | 5 | ||
| 4 | 2007 | 2017 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |||
| 1973 | 1986 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||
| 6 | Vilde Ingstad | 2015 | 2023 | 2 | 2 | – | 4 | ||
| Nora Mørk | 2015 | 2023 | 2 | 2 | – | 4 | |||
| Sanna Solberg-Isaksen | 2015 | 2023 | 2 | 2 | – | 4 | |||
| Silje Solberg-Østhassel | 2015 | 2023 | 2 | 2 | – | 4 | |||
| 10 | Heidi Løke | 2009 | 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 11 | Cléopatre Darleux | 2009 | 2021 | 1 | 3 | – | 4 | ||
| Allison Pineau | 2009 | 2021 | 1 | 3 | – | 4 | |||
| 13 | 1971 | 1982 | – | 1 | 3 | 4 |
The record-holder for scored goals in a single World Championship is Bojana Radulović. She scored 97 goals for Hungary at the 2003 World Championship.
| Year | Top scorer | Goals | Best player | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Pavla Bartáková | 11 | ||
| 1962 | Marie Mateju Ana Stănișel | 14 | ||
| 1965 | Anne-Marie Nielsen | 11 | ||
| 1971 | Hideyo Taramizu | 22 | ||
| 1973 | Christine Gehlhoff | 25 | ||
| 1975 | Tetyana Makarets | 35 | ||
| 1978 | Milena Foltýnová Kristina Richter | 41 | ||
| 1982 | Jasna Merdan | 52 | Larisa Karlova | |
| 1986 | Natalya Kirchik | 61 | Natalya Kirchik | |
| 1990 | Bożena Karkut Svetlana Vydrina | 50 | ||
| 1993 | Hong Jeong-ho | 58 | ||
| 1995 | Nataliya Derepasko | 61 | ||
| 1997 | Indira Kastratović | 71 | Franziska Heinz | |
| 1999 | Carmen Amariei Grit Jurack | 67 | Ausra Fridrikas | |
| 2001 | Ausra Fridrikas | 87 | Ausra Fridrikas | |
| 2003 | Bojana Radulović | 97 | Valérie Nicolas | |
| 2005 | Nadine Krause Tanja Logwin | 60 | Lyudmila Postnova | |
| 2007 | 85 | |||
| 2009 | Katrin Engel | 67 | Lyudmila Postnova | |
| 2011 | Alexandra do Nascimento | 57 | Not awarded | |
| 2013 | Susann Müller | 62 | Eduarda Amorim | |
| 2015 | Cristina Neagu | 63 | Cristina Neagu | |
| 2017 | Nora Mørk | 66 | Stine Bredal Oftedal | |
| 2019 | Lois Abbingh | 71 | Estavana Polman | |
| 2021 | Nathalie Hagman | 71 | Kari Brattset Dale | |
| 2023 | Markéta Jeřábková | 63 | Henny Reistad |
| Margin | Winning team | Score | Opponent | WC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | 57–9 | 2005 | |||
| 46 | 61–15 | 2021 | |||
| 45 | 66–21 | 2009 | |||
| 41 | 58–17 | 2021 | |||
| 41 | 52–11 | 2021 | |||
| 41 | 52–11 | 2009 | |||
| 40 | 55–15 | 2021 | |||
| 40 | 48–8 | 2009 | |||
| 39 | 47–8 | 2005 | |||
| 39 | 46–7 | 2019 | |||
| 38 | 53–15 | 2011 | |||
| 38 | 50–12 | 2007 | |||
| 38 | 48–10 | 2021 | |||
| 38 | 41–3 | 1975 | |||
| 37 | 48–11 | 2001 | |||
| 37 | 47–10 | 2005 | |||
| 37 | 45–8 | 2011 | |||
| 37 | 45–8 | 2009 | |||
| 37 | 42–5 | 1999 | |||
| 36 | 43–7 | 2021 |
See main article: world championships.