The Egyptian Handball Federation (EHF) signed on Thursday the contracts of hosting the 27th edition of the 2021 IHF World Men's Handball Championship, which will include 32 teams for the first time in history.

The signing ceremony was attended by Egypt's sports minister Ashraf Sobhy, chairman of the International Handball Federation (IHF) Hassan Mostafa, head of the African Handball Federation Mansourou Aremou, head of the Egyptian Olympic Committee Hesham Hatab and the EHF president Hesham Nasr.

"Choosing Egypt by the IHF to host such a major event is an international affirmation of the qualities that Egypt has and its ability to achieve the best success in hosting the biggest tournaments of the International Handball Federation," said Ashraf Sobhy during the ceremony.

The EHF chairman previewed the four courts which will host the tournament -- Cairo International stadium, Ismailia Stadium, Borg El-Arab Stadium and 6th October city in Cairo.

He also revealed that the costs of the tournament have reached EGP 300 million until now.

Egypt bid to host the tournament, competing with Poland and Hungary. It was declared the winner on 6 November, 2015.

This will be the third time that the championship is hosted by an African nation. Egypt also staged it in 1999.

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