The 2003 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Portugal from January 20 to February 2, 2003.

Qualified teams

24 teams were qualified for the first round and dispatched into 4 groups.

Group A : , , , , , .

Group B : , , , , , .

Group C : , , , , , .

Group D : , , , , , .

Group A in Guimarães

Guimarães

Guimarães Municipality is located in northwestern Portugal in the province of Minho and in the Braga District. It contains the city of Guimarães.The present Mayor is António Magalhães Silva, elected by the Socialist Party.-Parishes:-Economy:...

• Monday, January 20:
  • Tunisia 29 - 20 Kuwait
  • Yugoslavia 24 - 20 Poland
  • Spain 23 - 18 Morocco

• Tuesday, January 21:
  • Kuwait 14 - 36 Yugoslavia
  • Morocco 24 - 28 Tunisia
  • Poland 25 - 34 Spain

• Thursday, January 23:
  • Morocco 22 - 25 Kuwait
  • Tunisia 22 - 24 Poland
  • Spain 22 - 20 Yugoslavia

• Saturday, January 25:
  • Spain 45 - 18 Kuwait
  • Yugoslavia 28 - 27 Tunisia
  • Poland 35 - 29 Morocco

• Sunday, January 26:
  • Tunisie 25 - 33 Spain
  • Yugoslavia 34 - 20 Morocco
  • Poland 36 - 21 Kuwait

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Spain Spain	10	5	0	0	157	106	+51
2	Yugoslavia	8	4	0	1	142	103	+39
3	Poland Poland	6	3	0	2	140	130	+10
4	Tunisia Tunisia	4	2	0	3	131	129	+2
5	Kuwait Kuwait	2	1	0	4	98	168	-70
6	Morocco Morocco	0	0	0	5	113	145	-32

Group B in Viseu

Viseu

Viseu is both a city and a municipality in the Dão-Lafões Subregion of Centro Region, Portugal. The municipality, with an area of 507.1 km², has a population of 99,593 , and the city proper has 47,250...

• Monday, January 20:
  • Germany 40 - 17 Qatar
  • Iceland 55 - 15 Australia
  • Portugal 34 - 19 Greenland

• Tuesday, January 21:
  • Qatar 21 - 31 Portugal
  • Australia 16 - 46 Germany
  • Greenland 17 -30 Iceland

• Thursday, January 23:
  • Germany 34 - 20 Greenland
  • Australia 23 - 28 Qatar
  • Iceland 29 - 28 Portugal

• Saturday, January 25:
  • Portugal 29 - 37 Germany
  • Iceland 42 - 22 Qatar
  • Greenland 21 - 26 Australia

• Sunday, January 26:
  • Iceland 29 - 34 Germany
  • Greenland 23 - 28 Qatar
  • Portugal 42 - 20 Australia

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Germany Germany	10	5	0	0	191	111	+80
2	Iceland Iceland	8	4	0	1	185	116	+69
3	Portugal Portugal	6	3	0	2	164	126	+38
4	Qatar Qatar	4	2	0	3	116	159	-43
5	Australia Australia	2	1	0	4	100	192	-92
6	Greenland Greenland	0	0	0	5	100	152	-52

Group C in Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

• Monday, January 20:
  • Russia 31 - 30 Hungary
  • Croatia 29 - 30 Argentina
  • France 30 - 23 Saudi Arabia

• Tuesday, January 21:
  • Argentina 26 - 26 Russia
  • Saudi Arabia 18 - 25 Croatia
  • Hungary 24 - 29 France

• Thursday, January 23:
  • Hungary 36 - 25 Saudi Arabia
  • Russia 26 - 28 Croatia
  • France 35 - 18 Argentina

• Saturday, January 25:
  • Argentina 23 - 35 Hungary
  • Croatia 23 - 22 France
  • Russia 34 - 17 Saudi Arabia

• Sunday, January 26:
  • Croatia 30 - 29 Hungary
  • Saudi Arabia 31 - 30 Argentina
  • Russia 15 - 31 France

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Independent State of Croatia Croatia	8	4	0	1	135	125	+10
2	Early Modern France France	8	4	0	1	147	103	+44
3	Russia Russia	5	2	1	2	132	132	0
4	Hungary Hungary	4	2	0	3	154	138	+16
5	Argentina Argentina	3	1	1	3	127	156	-29
6	Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	4	114	155	-41

Croatia is ranked before France thanks to its victory in the game between those two teams.

Group D in São João da Madeira

São João da Madeira

São João da Madeira , in English St. John's Wood, is a municipality in northwestern Portugal. Its part of Porto Metropolitan Area, the second largest of Portugal. It has a land area of 8.11 km² and a total population of 21 685 inhabitants...

• Monday, January 20:
  • Algeria 22 - 22 Brazil
  • Sweden 29 - 23 Egypt
  • Denmark 33 - 24 Slovenia

• Tuesday, January 21:
  • Egypt 25 - 25 Algeria
  • Slovenia 29 - 25 Sweden
  • Brazil 24 - 28 Denmark

• Thursday, January 23:
  • Slovenia 26 - 27 Egypt
  • Sweden 29 - 21 Brazil
  • Denmark 22 - 19 Algeria

• Saturday, January 25:
  • Algeria 28 - 32 Sweden
  • Brazil 27 - 30 Slovenia
  • Denmark 35 - 26 Egypt

• Sunday, January 26:
  • Denmark 28 - 32 Sweden
  • Brazil 24 - 31 Egypt
  • Algeria 25 - 35 Slovenia

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Sweden Sweden	8	4	0	1	147	129	+18
2	Denmark Denmark	8	4	0	1	146	125	+21
3	Slovenia Slovenia	6	3	0	2	144	137	+7
4	Egypt Egypt	5	2	1	2	132	139	-7
5	Algeria Algeria	2	0	2	3	119	136	-17
6	Brazil Brazil	1	0	1	4	118	140	-22

Sweden is ranked before Denmark thanks to its victory in the game between those two teams.

Second round

The best teams of each group advance to the semifinals.
The runners-up qualify for the ranking games for 5th to 8th place.

Group I in Caminha

Caminha

Caminha is a municipality in the north-west of Portugal, 21 km north from Viana do Castelo, located in the Viana do Castelo District.The municipality has a total area of 137.4 km² and 16,839 inhabitants ....

• Wednesday, January 29:
  • Iceland 33 - 29 Poland
  • Spain 40 - 15 Qatar

• Thursday, January 30:
  • Poland 35 - 26 Qatar
  • Spain 32 - 31 Iceland

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Spain Spain	6	3	0	0	106	71	+35
2	Iceland Iceland	4	2	0	1	106	83	+23
3	Poland Poland	2	1	0	2	89	93	-4
4	Qatar Qatar	0	0	0	3	63	117	-54

Group II in Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim

Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in the Norte Region and sub-region of Greater Porto, with a 2011 estimated population of 63,364. According to the 2001 census, there were 63,470 inhabitants with 42,396 living in the city proper. The urban area expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there...

• Wednesday, January 29:
  • Germany 30 - 21 Tunisia
  • Yugoslavia 30 - 28 Portugal

• Thursday, January 30:
  • Germany 31 - 31 Yugoslavia
  • Portugal 27 - 26 Tunisia

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Germany Germany	5	2	1	0	98	81	+17
2	Yugoslavia	5	2	1	0	89	86	+3
3	Portugal Portugal	2	1	0	2	89	93	-9
4	Tunisia Tunisia	0	0	0	3	74	85	-11

Group III in Rio Maior

Rio Maior

Rio Maior is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 272.8 km² and a total population of 21,621 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 14 parishes, and is located in the Santarém District.The present Mayor is Isaura Morais, elected by the PSD....

• Wednesday, January 29:
  • Croatia 29 - 23 Egypt
  • Denmark 28 - 35 Russia

• Thursday, January 30:
  • Russia 29 - 22 Egypt
  • Croatia 33 - 27 Denmark

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Independent State of Croatia Croatia	6	3	0	0	90	76	+14
2	Russia Russia	4	2	0	1	90	78	+12
3	Denmark Denmark	2	1	0	2	90	94	-4
4	Egypt Egypt	0	0	0	3	71	93	-22

Group IV in Espinho

Espinho, Portugal

Espinho is a city in Espinho Municipality in Portugal. It is a reputed beach resort and a zone of legal gambling with a casino - Casino Solverde. Its fair - Feira de Espinho, having been first organised in 1894, is well known in Portugal...

• Wednesday, January 29:
  • Sweden 33 - 32 Hungary
  • France 31 - 22 Slovenia

• Thursday, January 30:
  • Sweden 24 - 30 France
  • Slovenia 25 - 28 Hungary

Standings

Rank	Country	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1	Early Modern France France	6	3	0	0	90	70	+20
2	Hungary Hungary	2	1	0	2	84	87	-3
3	Slovenia Slovenia	2	1	0	2	76	84	-8
4	Sweden Sweden	2	1	0	2	82	91	-9

Ranking games in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

• Saturday, February 1
  • places 5 to 8:
    • Yugoslavia 33 - 34 Hungary (double overtime)
    • Iceland 27 - 30 Russia

• Sunday, February 2
  • places 7 and 8:
    • Iceland 32 - 27 Yugoslavia
  • places 5 and 6:
    • Russia 30 - 25 Hungary

Semi-finals in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

• Saturday, February 1
  • Germany 23 - 22 France
  • Spain 37 - 39 Croatia (double overtime)

Final in Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

Croatian national handball team

• Sunday, February 2
  • Croatia 34 - 31 Germany

Final standings

The first 7 teams were qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

.

Christian Schwarzer

Christian Schwarzer

Christian "Blacky" Schwarzer is a German handball player.Born in Braunschweig, he has played for VfL Fredenbeck from 1987 to 1991 and for TV Niederwürzbach from 1991 to 1999...

 (Germany) was named MVP of the tournament.