Cameroon (CMR), Central African Republic (CAF), Chad (CHA), DR Congo (COD), Gabon (GAB), Equatorial Guinea (GEQ) and São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) have all been invited to participate in the CAHB Zone IV IHF Women's Trophy for nations across central west Africa.
Kinshasa in DR Congo will host the event which is set to take place from 22-26 May.
The 2019 IHF Women's Trophy junior competitions are for players born in 2000 and younger, while the 2019 IHF Women's Trophy youth competitions will be for players born in 2002 and younger.
In addition to expanding the reach of age ranges, the winners of the 2019 IHF Women's Trophy: Intercontinental Championship – for junior teams only – has been upgraded to a qualification event for the 2020 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship, set to take place in Romania.
As usual, the IHF will be organising a coaching course during each IHF Trophy competition and as part of the continued support for developing handball nations, the IHF will also cover the travel expenses of all teams to the competition venues.
For more information about the new format of the IHF Trophy click HERE.
African Handball Confederation (CAHB) Zones
The continent of Africa is divided into the following geographical zones for the purposes of International Handball Federation competitions, in this case, the 2019 Women’s IHF Trophy.
2019 IHF Women’s Trophy CAHB competitions already announced/completed:
Host city/nation: Nouakchott, Mauritania (MTN)
Dates: 31 March – 4 April 2019
Invited teams: Cape Verde (CPV), Gambia (GAM), Guinea-Bissau (GBS), Guinea (GUI), Mali (MLI), Mauritania (MTN), Senegal (SEN), Sierra Leone (SLE)
Host city/nation: Niamey, Niger (NIG)
Dates: 25 February - 1 March 2019
Invited teams: Benin (BEN), Burkina Faso (BUR), Ghana (GHA), Liberia (LBR), Nigeria (NGR), Niger (NIG), Togo (TOG). Due to the level of women's handball, the federation of Cote d’Ivoire (CIV) do not compete in the IHF Women's Trophy.
CAHB Africa Zone IV (4)
Host city/nation: Kinshasa, DR Congo (COD)
Dates: 22-26 May 2019
Invited teams: Cameroon (CMR), Central African Republic (CAF), Chad (CHA), DR Congo (COD), Gabon (GAB), Equatorial Guinea (GEQ) and São Tomé and Príncipe (STP). Due to the level of women's handball, the federations of both Congo (CGO) and DR Congo (COD) will not compete in the IHF Women's Trophy.
Host city/nation: Zanzibar, Tanzania (TAN)
Dates: 11-18 March 2019
Invited teams: Burundi (BDI), Djibouti (DJI), Ethiopia (ETH), Kenya (KEN), Rwanda (RWA), Somalia (SOM), Sudan (SUD), South Sudan (SSD), Tanzania (TAN), Uganda (UGA)
Host city/nation: Antananarivo, Madagascar (MAD)
Dates: 24-27 April 2019
Invited teams: Madagascar (MAD), Mauritius (MRI), Seychelles (SEY)
CAHB Hosts, teams and dates to be confirmed:
CAHB Africa Zone I (1)
This CAHB Zone is for North Africa and features Morocco (MAR), Algeria (ALG), Tunisia (TUN), Libya (LBA) and Egypt (EGY). Due to the level of handball in these federations, they are automatically excluded from the IHF Trophy.
CAHB Africa Zone VI (6)
For the southern part of Africa, Zone six features Angola (ANG), Lesotho (LES), Mozambique (MOZ), South Africa (RSA), Zambia (ZAM), Zimbabwe (ZIM), Malawi (MAW), Namibia (NAM), Botswana (BOT) and Swaziland (SWZ). Due to the level of women's handball, the federation of Angola (ANG) will not compete in the IHF Women's Trophy.