On Sunday (February 1) they will contest the gold medal with Olympic and European champions France, who beat defending champions Spain 26-22.

"This is a success," said Qatar's coach Valero Rivera, who guided Spain to their title on home soil years ago.

"This is the first team that a non-European team made it to the world final, and I am very, very happy for the country, for the players, for the Federation and the people that work in the sport."

France's goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer was man-of-the-match as the Olympic and European reached the World Handball Championships final - where they will play hosts Qatar - by defeating defending champions Spain ©Qatar2015

The man-of-the-match awards in both semi-finals went to goalkeepers, with Qatar's naturalised Bosnian Danijel Saric and France's Thierry Omeyer being honoured.

Saric made a series of crucial saves as Poland pressed to get back into the match in the final 15 minutes, and Omeyer saved several Spanish penalty shots in finishing with a 48 per cent save record.

Qatar led 16-13 at half-time, and even though leading scorer Zarko Markovic had a relatively quiet day, ending the match with five goals, Rafael Capote had a richly profitable time as he plundered six goals from left back, joint top-scoring with Qatari-born Kamalaldin Mallash.

Michal Jurecki top-scored for Poland with eight goals, and Mariusz Jurkiewicz added six, but Saric frustrated their efforts to get back into the match in the second half.

Omeyer was the key to the French victory according to the Qatar coach's son and namesake, Valero Rivera.

"It was a very difficult game for us and France was better in defence," he said.

"It tells you a lot about the match when the goalkeeper was the most valuable player."

Joie de vivre is everywhere - or nearly everywhere - as France earn a place in the final of the World Handball Championships with a 26-22 win over Spain ©Getty Images

The Olympic champions may be superb in defence, but their attack was to the fore in the opening 15 minutes as they established a 12-7 lead.

Meanwhile, Luka Karabatic was doing a great job shackling the dangerous Joan Canellas, whose goal against Denmark two seconds from time had seen them through their quarter-final.

France held an 18-14 lead at half-time, but Spain closed to within a point - 19-18 - seven minutes into the half  before Omeyer's brilliance behind a fabled defensive line frustrated the defending champions.

France remained a tantalising two points clear in the closing stages before two goals from Michael Guigou effectively ended the contest with less than a minute to go.

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