1997 World Men's Handball Championship

The 1997 World Men's Handball Championship was the 15th team handball World Championship. It was held in Kumamoto, Japan and was the first World Championship not played in a European country. Russia won the championship.

Venues
The organizing committee used four venues to host the 1997 World Men's Handball Championship:


 * Group A: Park Dome Kumamoto
 * Group B: Kumamoto City Gym
 * Group C: Yamaga City Gym
 * Group D: Yatsushiro City Gym

Preliminary round
The top 4 placed teams of each group continues to the knockout stage. The teams are ranked through the following rules.
 * 1) Team with the most points (2 points for each won game, 1 point for each drawn game).
 * 2) If two teams get the same points, the winner in the game between the two teams get ranked first.
 * 3) If the game between the teams ended in a draw, the team with the best goal difference get ranked first.

Final standings

 * 1)   Gold medal blank.svg
 * 2)  Silver medal blank.svg
 * 3)  Bronze medal blank.svg

All Star Team

 * Goalkeeper: Mats Olsson 🇸🇪
 * Left Wing: Valery Gopin 🇷🇺
 * Left Back: Vasily Kudinov 🇷🇺
 * Center Back: Talant Duyshebaev 🇪🇸
 * Pivot: Guéric Kervadec 🇫🇷
 * Right Back: Staffan Olsson 🇸🇪
 * Right Wing: Valdimar Grímsson 🇮🇸