Pots for the Men’s World Championship draw announced

The 24 teams which had qualified for the 2013 Men's World Championship are eagerly awaiting the 19 July. Then the lots for the preliminary round groups will be drawn in "Jardines Cecilio Rodríguez" del Parque del Retiro in the Spanish capital Madrid.

Now the IHF has announced the pots and the procedure for the draw – based on the so called performance rows and seeding lists of the 24 nations, their rankings at the respective continental qualifications and the results of the 2011 World Championships. Host Spain is seeded in pot 1 and can choose their group after the pots six to two had been drawn.

These are the pots (rows) for the draw on 19 July:

1: France (defending champion), Denmark, Spain, Serbia
2. Croatia,  Macedonia, Slovenia, Germany
3: Hungary, Poland, Iceland, Argentina
4: Korea, Tunisia, Algeria, Qatar
5: Montenegro, Russia, Belarus, Egypt
6: Brazil, Chile, Saudi-Arabia, Australia

The draw will take place on 19 July at 11:30 in the Cecilio Rodriquez Gardens inside Retiro Park in Madrid. The World Championship will be played from 11 to 27 January 2013 in Barcelona / Granollers, Madrid, Zaragoza, Seville and Guadalajara with the final weekend in Barcelona.

The host cities of the four groups of the preliminary round (with six teams each) will be announced by the IHF after the event. The each four best ranked teams will qualify for the eight-finals, followed by quarterfinals, semi-finals and medal's matches.