A 15,000 crowd at the purpose-built Lusail Arena saw the Olympic and European champions overcome the first non-European finalists in the history of the event to earn the triple crown of major handball titles for the second time since 2010.

The French, who had beaten defending champions Spain 26-22 in the semi-finals, were pushed all the way by the team guided by the man who coached the Spaniards to that title in 2013, Valero Rivera, only pulling away decisively after being pegged back to a goal lead with 15 minutes to play.

Spain had earlier been beaten 29-28 after extra-time by Poland in the bronze medal match after the Poles had levelled it to 24-24 in the final minute of normal time.

At an awards ceremony rounded off by performances from Kylie Minogue and Taio Cruz, the French were presented by Dr Hassan Moustafa, President of the International Handball Federation (IHF), with a new World Championship trophy designed and made in Qatar.

France's strong defence and counter-attacking power eventually proved too much for the first non-European finalists, Qatar - although the hosts were within a goal of the Olympic and European champions with 15 minutes remaining ©Qatar2015

The old trophy will be kept at the IHF headquarters in Lausanne.

France will thus stage the 25th Men's World Championships in 2017 - awarded in 2011 - as defending champions, with Qatar also guaranteed a place.

It will be the fourth hosting of a World Handball Championships for France, which held the men's version in 1970 and 2001, and the women's Championships in 2007.

"In 2007 in Germany 750,000 tickets were sold at the Men's Championships," said Moustafa.

"I believe in France we can break the one million mark."

At the pre-match closing press conference, a representative from beIN Sports, host broadcaster, confirmed a jump in television coverage from 66 territories in 2005 to 174 in 2015, and reported an estimated viewership of one billion.

A Closing Ceremony featuring performances from Kylie Minoque and Taio Cruz was witnessed by a capacity 15,000 crowd at the purpose-built Lusail Arena ©Qatar2015

Rafael Capote and Zarko Markovic scored four each for Qatar in the first half of the final to help limit France to a 14-11 lead at the break.

Early in the second half, two breakaway goals by the hosts narrowed that lead to a single goal. France responded swiftly to re-establish their two-goal lead, but with 20 minutes to play they were under pressure again as Qatar took advantage of a two-minutes suspension for Cedric Sorhaindo to get within one goal of the favourites again at 18-17.

France's strength in depth soon told as Xavier Barachet, stepping onto the court for the first time in the match, scored two quick goals in succession to restore his side's momentum.

But Qatar came back again to get within a goal away of their experienced opponents, with the score standing at 20-19 with 15 minutes remaining.

Within five minutes, however, a series of great saves from the French keeper Thierry Omeyer and swift goals on the counter-attack had restored a three-goal margin to the French at 22-19.

That margin was maintained, at 24-21, as the clock ticked into the final five minutes. Qatar pulled another goal back, but two minutes from time the match result finally tipped as Daniel Narcisse made it 25-22 with a breakthrough goal and Omeyer made a crucial save in the next Qatari attack.

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