The fourth day of the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Zagreb saw the main round end at Lake Jarun with a morning/early afternoon session featuring 15 games.

Brazil confirm main round place as Spain remain only perfect team at Croatia 2026

Spain’s women made it three wins from three in the main round, defeating title-holders Germany 2-0, thanks to a sterling performance from goalkeeper Patricia Encinas, who was on a 50% save rate deep into the second set. Down the other end, Jimena Lacuna’s 14 points helped guide the European champions to a 17:12, 17:12 win.

The result meant that Spain topped the group on 10 points and continued their dominant run of 2-0 victories – the only team in either the men’s or women’s competition at Croatia 2026 to reach those heights with six, consecutive victories by this score.

Netherlands finished in third behind Germany after defeating Croatia, who were already confirmed in the knockout stages in fourth place, again Anna Buter was a key player, scoring 16 points for the Dutch. In the match for bottom spot, Uruguay defeated Puerto Rico.

In main round, Group II, Denmark and Argentina ended up tied at the top, on eight points each, with Denmark finishing as group winners thanks to their head-to-head record as both teams won their final group game, the Danes taking down Brazil and Argentina defeating Greece, both 2-0.

With that Brazil loss the Philippines could have qualified at the expense of the South American former champions, but they were overpowered by Norway, losing 2-0 (28:10, 28:11) as the Norwegians made it two wins from their last two games.

This meant that Brazil, Greece and Norway all ended on four points, but with Norway missing out on their head-to-head record before the final day had thrown-off.

The solitary game in the consolation round saw the USA beat the Cook Islands 2-0, to finish second in the group (4 points) behind winners Vietnam and the Oceania side ending in third.

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

Hungarian men squeeze top-spot finish in Group I, as Germany dominate Group II

With all eight men’s quarter-final teams known ahead of the final main round games on Friday (26 June), the battle on the Jarun Lake sand was for the ranking spots and a lower-ranked team as the knockout stage begins.

Group I ended with three teams all on eight points each (Hungary, Portugal, Spain) after Hungary defeated Spain (Attila Kun top-scoring with 13 points) and Portugal defeated Denmark 8:6 via shoot-out, after Gabriel Conceicao scored 22 points.

Thanks to the head-to-head record Hungary finished top, followed by Portugal and then Spain, the Danes ended in the fourth qualification spot, ahead of the Islamic Republic of Iran in fifth place, pushing down Tunisia into sixth spot, as Ali Heidarian scored 17 points in a 2-0 win.

Germany remain the only unbeaten team in the men’s competition, winning all six of their games at Croatia 2026 so far, including a 2-1 win over the hosts after Ivan Dumencic missed his shot and Germany captain Robin John sunk home the single point.

This meant Germany ended the group on 10 points, followed by Brazil in second on eight points with the South American side beating debutants France 2-0 with a monster 26 points from Renan Pinheiro. Brazil’s neighbours Argentina, defeated Oman 2-0 to push the Asian champions down into sixth spot.

In the consolation round, the USA made it three wins from three as they defeated Oceania champions Australia 2-0. Italy’s Ignazio Degiorgio’s 18 points helped Italy to another world championship win, this time against Puerto Rico, who are still awaiting their first win at Croatia 2026.

“We're still in with a shot to get our best finish ever,” said the USA’s Bryan Cook. “We still have a shot for top 10, and we're just taking it one game at a time. After playing in such a tough preliminary group to begin with, with Spain and Portugal and Iran just having a hell of a tournament, there’s a lot of positives to take. 

“Just knowing we have the confidence to keep building one game at a time, and really extra confidence knowing that that we can compete at such a high level, regardless of who we're playing, we’re just so grateful.”

After the conclusion of the main and consolation round at Croatia 2026, Martin Andersen of Denmark leads the scoring with 111 points in six games, followed by Hungary’s Norbert Gyene (94 points) and Ali Heidarian (90) for Iran.

For more information on the men’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: Match results
Friday 26 June 2026

Men’s Competition
 
Main Round, Group I
HUN v ESP 2-0 (25:20, 22:20)
DEN v POR 1-2 (22:29, 24:18, SO 6:8)
TUN v IRI 0-2 (22:23, 16:19)
 
Main Round, Group II
CRO v GER 1-2 (24:12, 9:22, SO 8:9)
FRA v BRA 0-2 (16:26, 24:26)
OMA v ARG 0-2 (15:22, 22:23)
 
Consolation Round
AUS v USA 0-2 (19:28, 18:26)
PUR v ITA 0-2 (16:22, 16:23)

Women’s Competition
 
Main Round, Group I
ESP v GER 2-0 (17:12, 17:12)
CRO v NED 0-2 (16:26, 12:22)
PUR v URU 0-2 (10:20, 10:16)
 
Main Round, Group II
DEN v BRA 2-0 (23:18, 17:13)
ARG v GRE 2-0 (23:16, 19:16)
PHI v NOR 0-2 (10:28, 11:28)
 
Consolation Round
BEN v VIE 0-2 (0:10, 0:10)*
COK v USA 0-2 (14:18, 12:14)

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 Vietnam due to Benin withdrawing from the competition