![How Croatia conquered the beach handball world](/media/g2el024i/20230508-bh-euro-feature-croatia-main.jpg?width=1020&height=720&format=webp&quality=80&v=1d981a08bad2130)
How Croatia conquered the beach handball world
No European nation has left its mark on beach handball history in the same way as Croatia has, with its senior national teams gathering 22 medals from major championships, including six European titles – four for the men, two for the women. Time to find out the secret behind Croatia’s sandy successes. This is the second article in a series building up to the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2023 on 24-28 May in Nazaré, Portugal.
![20230508 BH Euro Feature Croatia Gallery 1](/frontend.kw/dist/assets/img/blank.png?rmode=stretch&width=450&height=300&format=webp&quality=80)
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It is a vicious circle: When you have more success, then more people are interested in starting to play beach handball. We are now in the process of expanding it – not just for the Zagreb area, where most teams are settled, but expanding it all over Croatia. The success generates new teams and players.
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First we were friends, after that we were teammates. I think we really enjoyed being in others’ company. First of all, it was love, just love. It was no financial or material gain, it was only the love for playing handball together the whole year.
![20230508 BH Euro Feature Croatia Full Width](/frontend.kw/dist/assets/img/blank.png?rmode=stretch&width=570&height=384&format=webp&quality=80)