Continental qualifications
Direct qualifications
Host CRO 
and 2007 World Champion GER 
directly qualified.
Africa
The teams from Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria qualified as part of the 2008 African Championship, which was staged from 8 to 17 January 2008 in Angola.
Results
TUN - ALG 41:25 (Semi-final 1)
EGY - ANG 35:28 (Semi-final 2)
ALG - ANG 23:20 (Places 3/4)
EGY - TUN 27:25 (Final)
Final ranking: 1. EGY, 2. TUN, 3. ALG, 4. ANG
Qualified:
EGY 
TUN 
ALG
Asia
The Asian Men's Handball Championship, which took place from 17 - 25 February 2008 in Esfahan, I.R Iran, was to allocated 3 places.
Results
KSA - KUW 29:32 (Semi-final 1)
IRI - KOR 24:33 (Semi-final 2)
IRI - KSA 23:24 (Places 3/4)
KUW - KOR 21:27 (Final)
Final ranking: 1. KOR, 2. KUW, 3. KSA, 4. IRI
Qualified:
KOR 
KUW 
KSA
Europe
Qualified
2008 European Champions: DEN 
Rank 3 at EURO 2008 in Norway: FRA 
Rank 5 at EURO 2008 in Norway: SWE 
Another nine places were allocated through play-off matches taking place on 7/8 and14/15 June 2008.
Results
SLO - SVK 33:33, 29:30
ESP - GRE 32:24, 31:32
NOR - UKR 29:22, 32:30
BLR - RUS 26:26, 30:34
MNE - ROU 31:27, 24:29
CZE - SRB 38:33, 24:29
POL - SUI 32:24, 22:24
HUN - BIH 27:25
MKD - ISL 34:26, 24:30
Qualified:
NOR 
, POL 
, HUN 
, ESP 
, SVK 
,
MKD 
, ROU 
, RUS 
, SRB 
Pan-America
The 2008 Pan-American Championship, which took place in Brazil from 24 –28 June, established the WCh participants from Pan-America:
Results
GRL – URU 28:21 (5/6)
CUB – CHI 37:30 (3/4)
BRA – ARG 27:24 (1/2)
Final ranking: BRA, 2. ARG, 3. CUB, 4. CHI, 5. GRL, 6. URU, 7. CAN
Qualified:
BRA 
, ARG 
, CUB 
Oceania
The Oceania qualifying took place in Wellington NZL from 7 to 10 April 2008.
Results
New Caledonia* - AUS 20:15
COK – NZL 27:23
AUS – COK 32:11
NZL – New Caledonia* 8:40
New Caledonia* - COK 43:12
NZL – AUS 17:38
Final ranking: 1. New Caledonia*, 2. AUS, 3. COK, 4. NZL
*New Caledonia participated as a non-competitor.
Qualified:
AUS 