Four months after the first IHF Intercontinental Trophy for men’s teams in Jaipur, India (won by Finland), now it is time for the women under 21 years: Attended by IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa, the first ever Women’s Intercontinental Trophy will be staged in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 3 to 6 November. The following four winners of the Continental Challenge Trophy tournaments will compete for the title: Kazakhstan, Finland, Cuba and Congo.

“The Challenge Trophies, organized by the IHF, are milestones for the worldwide development of handball, mainly in the less handball-developed countries”, says IHF President Dr Hassan Moustafa.

In all continents several tournaments in different zones had been played until the four participants had qualified for this IHF Trophy as the best teams of their Continental Confederations. The qualification process started in 2010 when 16 tournaments had been played with in total 1222 players from all continents; 490 players have followed until now in 2011 at seven tournaments.

But the special meaning of those Challenge Trophies is not only the competition, but the courses for referees and coaches from the hosting and participating nations. In total 245 coaches and 238 referees attended the courses.

The International Handball Federation selected the best couples out of the continental phases of the Challenge Trophy to referee the IHF Women’s Intercontinental Trophy. The nominated referees are from France, Burkina Faso and Kazakhstan; the official IHF PRC lecturer is Edeltraud Berthold from Austria.