In temperatures reaching the mid-high 30s for the second successive day, 30 games were played on the third day of the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Zagreb with both the main round and consolation round getting underway at Lake Jarun.

All eight quarter-finalists known in men’s competition, with Argentina and Brazil joining six European nations

African champions Tunisia and Asian runners-up Islamic Republic of Iran knew they would likely need to win all three of their games in the main round to move into the quarter-finals, but ended up losing all four of their games between them on the opening main round day.

They got underway with Tunisia losing to Spain (0-2) and Iran losing to Denmark (0-2), with Martin Andersen scoring 16 points for the Danes. Spain later beat the Danish team 9:6 via shoot-out to continue their Croatia 2026 winning streak to five games in a row.

Despite that loss, Denmark did end the first day of the main round qualified through to the quarter-finals thanks to other results, which saw an impressive three saves from Tomas Van-Zeller help guide his Portugal side to a hard-fought 2-1 (25:24, 18:23, SO 9:4) win over Hungary, which included a golden goal and 17 points from Tiago Costa. Costa was in blistering form, also top-scoring against Tunisia, his 20 points helping end the day on six points, the same as Hungary, who defeated Iran 2-0.

Germany and Brazil confirmed their qualification through to the quarter-finals as The World Games champions Germany won two shoot-outs, the first one against Asian champions Oman 2-1 (13:15, 26:10, SO 15:14), which saw both sides miss in the first round of shot and then Germany captain Robin John sinking home a single point shot after Yasir Al Harthi missed Oman’s ninth attempt.

 

Brazil also beat Oman, with more ease, 2-0, the same result in the ‘El Classico’ against hosts Croatia, Renato Pinheiro scoring 20 points for the South American side in a 2-0 (22:20, 20:18) victory in the morning/afternoon session.

The two sides have won the last nine world championships between them going back to 2006, but Brazil can boast the current bragging rights – this Croatia 2026 win coming off of the back of their 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Finals victory in November 2025 and The World Games 2025 win in China. 

Ahead of the Argentina v Croatia evening match, there was a minute’s silence for the sad news which broke earlier in the day of the passing of legendary Croatian handball journalist Drazen Pinevic who had covered all aspects of handball in and outside of Croatia since the 1980s. 

The thoughts of everyone at the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships and IHF are with his loved ones at this difficult time.

Croatia, missing key and Greece 2022 and China 2024 gold medal-winning players Nikola Finek and Lucian Bura for this championship, went on to lose 2-1 (19:18, 24:31, SO 6:4) against Argentina under the lights, as the host saw three shots missed in the shoot-out. That result confirmed the elimination of France – in addition to Oman earlier.

The United States had a strong day in the consolation round, winning both of their games 2-0, against Puerto Rico – with Cody Dominik scoring 19 points for the US – and against Italy, Jacobo Garcia grabbing 19 points. 

They ended the day top on four points, ahead of Australia, who beat Puerto Rico but lost to Italy, the European side winning their first-ever IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship game  2-0 (22:20, 27:26).

“It’s an incredible emotion,” said Italy’s Alessandro Benini after the win. “That's our first goal and now, every time you make a win in this type of competition, you want more and we want to arrive in the top 10 – that’s the next goal.”

 

Brazil’s women shocked by Asian silver medallists as all but one quarter-final places confirmed

In what will go down as one of the biggest upsets of Croatia 2026 and maybe one of the world championships as a whole, second-timers Philippines took the scalp of Brazil in their opening main round, group II game.

After fighting back to take it to a shoot-out, Philippines captain Aurora Adriano punished a Brazilian missed shot, to score the single point for a 7:6 victory. “Yes, we have to enjoy this moment, enjoy the win,” said the captain to ihf.info but we have to focus on our next games.”

And things went from bad-to-worse for the Brazilians, as they went on to lose their second shoot-out of the day in the final match, losing 2-1 (10:22, 17:16, SO 9:8) to neighbours Argentina, Beatriz Correia missing a shot in the shoot-out allowing Florencia Gallo to register a single point victory.

For Argentina, the day had also started with a shoot-out win as they saw off 2010 world champions Norway, taking an 11:10 shoot-out win after Norway missed two of their shots. Captain Gisella Bonomi top-scored with 22 points.

The Norwegians did finally add another win to their Croatia 2026 account after beating the USA in the preliminary group stage, when Ine Erlandsen Grimsrud’s 17 points led them to an 8:6 shoot-out win against neighbours and the already-qualified Denmark, who missed twice in the shoot-out.

2018 champions Greece had a mixed day, losing to Denmark 9:8 via shoot-out after Eleni Mournou missed their first shot, but beating Philippines 2-0 (19:18, 21:12). That 2:0 win was exactly what Greece needed to secure a place in the quarter-finals, courtesy of holding the tie-breaker against the Philippines, as well as in a possible three-way tie with Brazil and the Asian side.

The results of the day in Group II meant that the Philippines, along with Brazil are now vying for the one remaining quarter-final spot alongside Denmark, Argentina and Greece, with Norway out of contention in the group.

European champions Spain extended their win streak at Croatia 2026 to five games as they saw off the Netherlands and Uruguay 2-0, to finish top of main round group 1 on the opening day of two and seal their quarter-final spot with a game remaining, on eight points.

Spain’s 2-0 defeat of the Netherlands was a repeat of their EHF EURO semi-final victory last year on their way to gold in Turkiye.

Joining them at the top with the same record are title-holders Germany who also won both their games 2-0 (against Puerto Rico and Croatia), Isabel Kattner once again the top-scorer in a game, against the Puerto Ricans and then a monster Amelie Mollman performance of 20 points, against the host nation.

All four quarter-final spots were taken on the first day, with Croatia and Netherlands ending the day on four points each, thanks to solitary wins. On the central court, Uruguay failed with three shot in the shoot-out, losing 1-2 (17:16, 16:19, SO 4:9), while Anna Buter’s 22 points for the Dutch ensured a last eight spot with the Netherlands easing past the Puerto Ricans 2-0 (30:16, 24:18).

In the consolation round Vietnam got their first win of Croatia 2026 after losing their three preliminary group games via shoot-outs, when they took a 2-0 (24:10, 17:10) win over debutants Cook Islands which was followed up by a 2-1 victory over the USA (16:19, 24:14, SO 15:14) which went to a second round of shots, Cedar Bellows missing one for the North Americans and Tuyet Nguyen’s single point securing the victory for the Asian champions.

Rachel Wong top-scored in the game for the USA with 21 points. Both the USA and Cook Islands were handed forfeited wins over Benin.

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

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: Results

Thursday 25 June 2026

MAIN ROUND (MR), CONSOLATION ROUND (CR)

Men’s Competition

Main Round, Group I
ESP v TUN 2-0 (23:22, 23:10)
HUN v POR 1-2 (24:25, 23:18, SO 4:9)
IRI v DEN 0-2 (16:23, 16:21)
POR v TUN 2-0 (25:16, 26:24)
DEN v ESP 1-2 (20:26, 28:26)
IRI v HUN 0-2 (20:22, 22:23)

Main Round, Group II
GER v OMA 2-1 (13:15, 26:10, SO 15:14)
CRO v BRA 0-2 (20:22, 18:20)
ARG v FRA 2-0 (30:16, 22:20)
BRA v OMA 2-0 (26:10, 24:10)
FRA v GER 1-2 (21:20, 11:12, SO 6:10)
ARG v CRO 2-1 (19:18, 24:31, SO 6:4)

Consolation Round
USA v PUR 2-0 (23:12, 24:14)
ITA v AUS 2-0 (22:20, 27:26)
USA v ITA 2-0  (26:22, 23:22)
PUR v AUS 0-2 (10:18, 14:16)

Women’s Competition

Main Round, Group I
GER v PUR 2-0 (26:10, 30:4)
ESP v NED 2-0 (15:14, 21:16)
URU v CRO 1-2 (17:16, 16:19, SO 4:9)
NED v PUR 2-0 (30:16, 24:18)
CRO v GER 0-2 (12:22, 16:26)
URU v ESP 0-2 (14:20, 14:18)

Main Round, Group II
BRA v PHI 1-2 (26:14, 22:23, SO 6:7)
DEN v GRE 2-1 (16:19, 26:24, SO 9:8)
NOR v ARG 1-2 (16:22, 21:20, SO 10:11)
GRE v PHI 2-0 (19:18, 21:12)
ARG v BRA 2-1 (10:22, 17:16, SO 9:8)
NOR v DEN 2-1 (26:22, 24:27, SO 8:6)

Consolation Round
VIE v COK 2-0 (24:10, 17:10)
VIE v USA 2-1 (16:19, 24:14, SO 15:14)
USA v BEN 2-0 (10:0, 10:0)*
COK v BEN 2-0 (10:0, 10:0)**

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 USA due to Benin withdrawing from the competition
**Game forfeited 2-0 (10:0, 10:0) to Cook Islands due to Benin withdrawing from the competition