[5] The championship was played at eight venues in Paris-Bercy, Rouen, Nantes, Metz, Albertville, Montpellier, Lille, and Brest.

[7] 8 venues Denmark and France were bidding to host the 2017 Men's World Championships.

The IHF Council awarded the Men’s and Women’s World Championships 2017 at their meeting on the fringes of the Women’s World Championships in São Paulo, Brazil on Thursday 15 December 2011.

An additional automatic qualification spot was given to the defending champions, but because this was also France, the berth was given to the next best placed team from the last World Championship, losing finalists Qatar.

For places 5–16 the criterion was the number of points gained against the teams ranked first to fourth in the preliminary round in their group.