History continued to be made in the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships as the semi-finals concluded at Lake Jarun in Zagreb, Croatia.

Both Europe and South America will be celebrating tonight, as Argentina’s women’s side and Brazil’s men made it through to the finals where they will be joined by Denmark’s women and Germany’s men.

Away from the medal competition, the 5-16 placement rounds got underway with 23 teams looking to finish as high as they can.

Denmark women return to final action for first time since 2012, Argentina two-in-a-row

After two silvers in 2010 and 2012, Denmark’s women return to the world championship final for the first time in 14 years after defeating Brazil 2-0 (16:14, 21:16) in their semi-final match against the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour current title-holders.

Denmark, who are the current ANOC World Beach Games title-holders, held firm in defence throughout the game, Ditte Vind in goal saving a third of shots faced, including a double save seven minutes into the second set which inspired her side and punished Brazil – as Frida Ulrichsen put her team 14:10 up, prompting an early time out from Brazil coach Vinicius Oliveira.

And despite Brazil trying their best to catch up, Ulrichsen’s single point to make it 19:14 with less than a minute remaining saw the Danes already celebrating their final berth as Line Larsen top-scored for the European side on 10 points.

“We stuck to the same gameplan in defence and we got them to slow down their play. They didn’t come with much speed or anything new, so we had some kind of stability in the defence,” explained Vind to ihf.info after the game. “We’re going to celebrate by being happy, being with each other and getting a good night’s sleep, but the next job (the final) is already on paper, it’s the next assignment.”

Awaiting Denmark in the final will be Argentina, who passed through to their second, consecutive world championship final and fourth major event final in the past two years after their The World Games win last year and continental title earlier this month.

After a clear first-set win for the South Americans, Spain came back in the second to win by a single point but then both Jimena Laguna Contreras and Malena Diaz Coppens saw their shots saved.  First, Contreras saw her penalty denied by Maria Constanza Suarez and then Coppens – who did well to juggle and then control a pass – by Alma Molina. Lucila Balsas then had the presence of mind to shoot from her goalkeeping position into an empty net to seal the shoot-out win (2-1, 23:18, 17:18, SO 8:4).

“We feel really confident playing shoot-outs,” said Balsas. “We train shoot-outs a lot every day in our trainings, so when we win a set, we have a lot of confidence to go to the third if we lose the second one.” Gisella Bonomi top-scored with 12 points.

In the 5-8 placement round, Germany beat Croatia and Greece beat the Netherlands both via shoot-outs, Uruguay and Norway beat Philippines and Vietnam in the 9-12 placement round the same way and the USA, led by Taylee Tellechea’s 16 points downed the Cook Islands.

For more information on the women’s competition at Croatia 2026, click HERE.

Hosts and title-holders Croatia knocked out by Brazil as Germany move into second, successive global final

The first men’s semi-final of the day pitted Argentina in unchartered territory as they appeared in their first-ever world championship final four against The World Games’ champions Germany.

The European side were in their second, successive world championship semi-final, but this time they made the step up after failing at China 2024, winning 9:8 via shoot-out to extend their unbeaten run to eight games at Croatia 2026.

“It’s a little bit luck I think,” said Germany captain Robin John after the game. “Argentina played a very good game, we played a good game, and in the end, we had more, but it was just one throw.”

Facing them in the final will be the record title-holders Brazil, who had the chance to win their semi-final against the 2024 champions and hosts Croatia 2-0 after taking the first set 25:22 and then winning the ball in the second set for the golden goal, only for Renan Pinheiro to hit the crossbar and then Croatia’s young star, 17-year-old Karlo Grkovic, go down the other end to score the single point and take it to shots.

In the shoot-out, Brazil were perfect while Grkovic’s shot was tipped wide from distance by Marcelo Tuller in the South American goal and then, needing to score, Ivan Juric overthrew to Ivan Dumencic and the ball fell to the sand as Brazil made it to their eighth final.

In the 5-8 placement round Portugal beat Denmark and Spain – with Mario Miranda Sirvent scoring 25 points – defeated Hungary.

Both games in the 9-12 placement round went to shoot-out with France beating Italy and Iran beating Tunisia. The 13-16 placement round saw an impressive Ali Al Jamaai score 30 points for Oman in their 2-0 win against Oceania champions Australia, while the all-NACHC clash between Puerto Rico and the USA went the way of their continental championship, the United States taking another victory with Jason Borchik scoring 16 points.

For more information on the men’s competition at Croatia 2026, click HERE.

All games from Croatia 2026 are being streamed live and free (no login required) on the IHF Competitions YouTube channel (geo-restrictions will apply) click HERE for more information.

2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships: match results 

Saturday 27 June 2026

Women’s Competition

Semi-Finals

DEN v BRA 2-0 (16:14, 21:16)

ESP v ARG 1-2 (18:23, 18:17, SO 4:8)

5-8 Placement Round

CRO v GER 1-2 (16:9, 14:24, SO 4:7)

GRE v NED 2-1 (29:26, 18:26, SO 9:8)

9-12 Placement Round

URU v PHI 2-1 (23:16, 14:18, SO 5:2)

NOR v VIE 2-1 (32:16, 18:19, SO 7:6)

13-16 Placement Round

COK v USA 0-2 (13:17, 12:22)

BEN v PUR 0-2 (0:10, 0:10)*

Men’s Competition

Semi-Finals

GER v ARG 2-1 (21:20, 12:15, SO 9:8)

CRO v BRA 1-2 (22:25, 21:20, SO 6:8)

5-8 Placement Round

DEN v POR 0-2 (21:28, 20:23)

HUN v ESP 1-2 (18:21, 32:30, SO 6:9)

9-12 Placement Round

FRA v ITA 2-1 (19:16, 14:28, SO 16:14)

IRI v TUN 2-1 (19:8, 14:16, SO 5:0)

13-16 Placement Round

AUS v OMA 0-2 (15:16, 18:20)

PUR v USA 0-2 (14:32, 12:20)

 

All times local (CEST). Competition Management has the right to change the order, the court and the time of the matches.

*Game forfeited 2-0 (10:0, 10:0) to Puerto Rico due to Benin withdrawing from the competition