The final day of the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Zagreb is here with all to play for at Lake Jarun.

Argentina women look to step up the podium as Denmark return to gold medal match after 14 years

2024 bronze medallists and 2025 The World Games champions Argentina find themselves at exactly the same stage they did two years ago, but this time on familiar ground.

They face ANOC World Beach Games champions Denmark in the gold medal match just a few days after the two teams met in the preliminary group, the Danes winning 2-1 (29:24, 21:23, SO 9:8).

“We are so motivated and happy to play Denmark,” said Argentina’s Lucila Balsas. “They are very effective in the attack, and big on defence, but we are too. We will prepare the game as we should, and give the best. It would be a dream come true for me, for the team [to win the gold]. We train really hard for this, and we deserve it. It will be a dream come true.”

Denmark have not been in a final since 2012, when they lost to Brazil in the gold medal match in Oman with coach Morten Holmen still remembering the hurt from missing out.

“We cannot be satisfied,” Holmen said about getting to the final and confirming either a silver or gold medal. “We had one goal when we came here: win the world championship. We have chased that since 2012 and now we have another shot; we are going for that.”

European champions Spain face Brazil for bronze, while in the morning/afternoon session title-holders Germany take on 2018 world champions Greece for a top five spot.

Four games make up the rest of the early programme with Netherlands playing Croatia for 7/8, Norway and Uruguay going head-to-head for 9/10, the all-Asian continental clash between Philippines and Vietnam for 11/12 place, a repeat of the NACHC final from earlier this year as Puerto Rico take on the USA.

Going into the final day, Brazil’s Beatriz Correia tops the goalscoring charts with 126 points in eight games, followed by Anna Buter (Netherlands – 113), Eleni Kerlidi (Greece – 100) and Meike Kruijer (Netherlands – 100).

Brazil and Germany do battle for gold to become first new men’s champions since 2018

The final of the 144 scheduled matches of Croatia 2026 will be a cracker – the men’s final between Brazil and Germany late in the evening and under the floodlights.

Germany remain unbeaten at Croatia 2026 having won all eight of their games so far, including a 2-1 (22:23, 20:18, SO 9:8) win over the record title-holders in the preliminary group.

“Three years ago, Marten (Franke – Germany coach) showed us games from Brazil and how they can play and we looked at these games and said; ‘whoa, that’s great, it’s really amazing’, so it’s incredible that we now stand in a final against maybe Bruno (Oliveira) or maybe Nailson (Amaral),” said Germany captain Robin John. “These are the players we looked up to in the last four or five years, and now we will play against them, and maybe we can beat them – we hope so.”

Croatia and Argentina will play off for bronze with the South American side looking for their first-ever men’s senior IHF world championship medal. On the other side, a win for the host nation and title-holders will be their eighth one in a men’s beach handball world championship.

Neighbours Spain and Portugal play off for 5/6 place, Hungary and Denmark for 7/8 place, Islamic Republic of Iran and France compete for a place inside the top 10, Tunisia and Italy for 11/12 place, USA and Oman for 13th and Puerto Rico and Australia trying to avoid finishing bottom in their 15/16 placement match.

Denmark’s Martin Andersen, with 139 points, leads the top-scorers, followed by Hungarian’s Norbert Gyene (134) and Jorge Nahuel Perez Baptista from Argentina (127).

All games from Croatia 2026 will be 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 schedule

Sunday 28 June 2026

Men’s Competition

Final
2000 BRA v GER

Bronze
1800 CRO v ARG

5/6 Placement
1200 ESP v POR

7/8 Placement
1000 HUN v DEN

9/10 Placement
1100 IRI v FRA

11/12 Placement
1000 TUN v ITA

13/14 Placement 
1000 USA v OMA

15/16 Placement
1000 PUR v AUS

Women’s Competition

Final
1900 ARG v DEN

Bronze
1700 ESP v BRA

5/6 Placement
1100 GRE v GER

7/8 Placement
1200 NED v CRO

9/10 Placement
1200 NOR v URU

11/12 Placement
1200 PHI v VIE

13/14 Placement 
1100 PUR v USA

15/16 Placement
1100 BEN v COK*

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 Cook Islands due to Benin withdrawing from the competition