The 16th edition of the MHC Mediterranean Handball Championship for juniors U-17 which takes place in Port Said was inaugurated  in the presence of Dr. Ahmed El-Shaikh, undersecretary of the ministry and head of the central administration of the minister’s office as a representative of Dr. Ashraf a Sobhy, minister of youth and sports, Major General Adel El-Ghadban, governor of Port Said, Eng. Hisham Nasr, head of the Egyptian Handball Federation and board member of The Mediterranean Handball Confederation and Francesco Purromuto head of The Mediterranean Handball Confederation.

Twelve teams confirmed their participation in the competition :France, Turkey Montenegro , Italy , Romania, Tunisia, Morocco,Algeria  Libya and Egypt, the host in addition to United Arab Emirates,Saudi Arabia, and  Romania which aren’t  Mediterranean countries, but were invited to raise the level of friction in the championship during the period from 18th  to 23rd of February 2019.

The championship will be divided in two groups, Group A which includes Egypt, Morocco, France, Turkey, Italy and the United Arab Emirates in the sports city hall and Group Bwhich comprises Romania, Libya, Montenegro, Algeria, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia in the Faculty of Physical Education in Port Fouad.

The opening match will be between Egypt and Morocco teams after the opening ceremony. Egypt was able to overcome Turkey 27/13.

It is worth mentioning that for the first time the championship is held in two different continents, "Asia and Africa" where the city of Port Fouad is located in Asia and Port Said is in Africa.

The opening ceremony was attended by Dina Fouad, undersecretary of the ministry for Parliament and civil education, Dr. Mohamed Abd-el-Kader, Assistant of the minister for youth centers, Ali Abu Samra, undersecretary of the ministry and director of the youth and sports directorate in Port Said and Ehab El-Azab, executive manager of the Egyptian Handball Federation.