Five facts that shaped Beach Handball EURO history

The beginning

A new millennium, a new era for beach handball. The EHF stages the first European Championship in the year 2000, when Gaeta – on the Italian coast halfway between Rome and Naples – hosts a four-day tournament. Right from the start, the men’s and women’s competitions take place at the same time at the same venue.

In the morning hours of Monday 10 July 2000, the men’s teams of Germany and Greece and the women’s teams of Italy and Netherlands officially play the first ever European Championship matches in beach handball.

Both competitions consist of one round-robin group of eight teams, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals. The Spanish men and German women win all their seven group matches – but both ultimately fail to lift the trophies.

Spain go down in a shootout in the men’s final against Belarus and Germany suffer a similar fate in the women’s final against Ukraine, meaning that the first continental beach handball titles go to Eastern Europe.

The winners

What happened next with the winners of the inaugural championships in 2000? The Belarusian men picked up bronze at the next Beach Handball EURO in 2002 but have since failed to reach the semi-finals again. The Ukrainian women have not won another medal after their 2000 glory, though they have been close with fourth-place finishes in both 2009 and 2013.

So, who are the leading nations?

Croatian men have dominated for a decade, winning gold at four consecutive championships between 2009 and 2015, and adding a bronze and a silver over the last three events. Spain ended Croatia’s dominance in 2017 with their third title, while Russia and Denmark are each two-time champions; in fact, Denmark have won the last two editions, in Stare Jablonki in 2019 and in Varna two years ago.

On the women’s side, there is no standout nation. The last four championships produced four different winners, and no one has won more than two times – a feat achieved by Russia, Croatia, Hungary, and Germany. The latter team are also the defending champions for the 2023 edition.

The winners – beyond Europe

How do the Beach Handball EURO champions perform on the global stage? In other words, have European champions always done well at IHF World Championships, which are held every two years since 2004?

Only one European nation has won the men’s world title – Croatia, but they have done it three times: in 2008, 2016, and most recently last year. In 2009 and 2016 they held both titles at the same time.

Otherwise, Brazil are the globally dominating men’s beach handball nation, winning five of the nine World Championships held so far.

The South American dominance has been less strong on the women’s side, where Brazil has claimed ‘just’ three out of nine world titles. The other six have gone to six different European nations – three of them have held the European and world title at the same time: Russia in 2004, Croatia in 2008, and Germany, the reigning gold medallists on both levels. On a sidenote, Germany also triumphed at the 2022 World Games.

The hosts

From Italy in 2000 to Portugal in 2023, the Beach Handball EURO has certainly made a tour around the continent in its 23 years of existence.

Italy (2000, 2007), Spain (2002, 2015) and Croatia (2011, 2017) have each hosted the tournament twice, seven other nations have had the honour once: Türkiye (2004), Germany (2006), Norway (2009), Denmark (2013), Poland (2019), Bulgaria (2021), and this year’s organisers Portugal.

While all hosting nations do have a coast, the tournament has not always been staged on an actual beach. For instance, at two of the last three events – in Zagreb and Stare Jablonki – there was no sea in sight.

Does hosting the Beach Handball EURO provide an advantage for the home nation? Not really. So far, only the men’s teams of Spain (2002) and Croatia (2011), and the women’s teams of Germany (2006) and, again, Croatia (2011) have been able to please their home crowds by winning the gold.

In search for perfection

Playing the perfect Beach Handball EURO, does that exist? Gold medallists, who not only win each and every match during the tournament, but also do not drop a single set along the way?

On the women’s side, Germany have come closest to such perfection. In 2021 in Varna, they remained unbeaten und dropped just two sets – one each in the quarter- and the semi-final – on their way to the title.

And the men? In the same year 2021 when the German women impressed, the Danish men had a similar path to their title, also dropping just two sets in 10 matches on their road to gold.

In their dominant years, Croatia have done better once: playing their home tournament in Umag in 2011, Croatia kept a clean sheet throughout… until only dropping a single set, in the semi-final against Ukraine.

The one and only team to enjoy the taste of perfection at a Beach Handball EURO so far has been Spain. Hosting the 2002 championships in Cádiz, they played eight matches and downed all opponents 2:0, including then defending champions Belarus in the semi-final and Russia in the final.

Follow the official EHF beach handball channel on Instagram.