EC Pinheiros secured their second title in history at the South and Central American Men's Club Handball Championship, despite losing a match in the preliminary round, taking the all-Brazilian final against Nacional, 29:27.

It will be the fourth time in history when Pinheiros will represent South and Central America at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, having finished fifth in 2011 and 2017 and fourth in 2021.

The 2026 South and Central American Men's Club Handball Championship delivered a well-balanced week of high-quality handball in Asunción, Paraguay, from June 21 to 27, as 16 clubs from across the continent competed for the title.

The competition brought together the strongest men's club teams from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, divided into four groups of four teams. 

EC Pinheiros, three-time runners-up and one-time champion from 2021, returned as dangerous challengers, but their campaign started with a loss, 28:29, against Colegio Ward, with the Argentinian side taking the scalp of one of the favourites on their way to secure the first place in the group.

Pinheiros then beat Scuola Italiana from Uruguay, 34:22, and Argentinian side SAG Villa Ballester, 28:20, but still finished second to Colegio Ward.

Two Brazilian teams – Nacional and FMO Portugues – finished top in Group B, both with five points, after the last match in the group ended in a stalemate, 23:23. Both sides beat Triunfo and Pontevedres, but Nacional had the better goal difference, +47, as opposed to FMO’s +26.

Title holders Taubaté Handebol entered Group C as clear favourites and won all their matches – 40:23 against Luque, 28:23 against Argentinos Juniors and 35:23 against Universitario de Cordoba – being followed in the standings by Argentinos Juniors, which beat Cordoba (24:20) and Luque (35:28).

Finally, Argentinian side San Fernando HB – the only team from outside Brazil to ever win the competition – topped Group D, ahead of two other Argentinian sides, Dorrego and River Plate, winning all three matches.

All four quarter-finals were decided by four goals or less and the big shock was Taubaté’s demise at the hands of fellow Brazilian side FMO Portugues.

Kaique Da Silva had five goals for FMO in a low-scoring affair, while veteran goalkeeper Maik Dos Santos, who is 45 years old, saved 12 shots, to lift FMO to a shocking 23:20 win.

Another Brazilian side who made it through was Nacional, which eliminated Dorrego with a 26:24 win, with goalkeeper Rangel da Rosa, who shined at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, saving 13 shots for a 44% saving efficiency.

 

Argentinos Juniors had a 23:22 win against Colegio Ward, while Pinheiros made it three Brazilian sides in the semi-finals, thanks to a 31:27 win against San Fernando HB.

Pinheiros met FMO in the semi-final and the match was full of twists and turns, but eventually they secured a 27:26 win, after taking control in the last 10 minutes, with Gabriel Reis and Philipp Seifert scoring five goals each.

The second semi-final was clearly dominated by Nacional, which had a 27:19 lead after 41 minutes, but reduced the engines until the end, to secure a 33:29 win, with Alvaro Araujo scoring seven goals and Rangel da Rosa saving 15 shots.

However, da Rosa could not produce the same output in the final, saving only seven shots, while his counterpart from Pinheiros, Gonzalo Guerra, had 13 saves. Regardless, Nacional had a three-goal lead, 19:16, after 35 minutes, but their young team slowly started to get more and more tired and Pinheiros sensed the opportunity.

A 5:2 run spanning over six minutes turned the match on its head, as Philipp Seifert led the charge with eight goals. While Araujo netted 11, Pinheiros stood tall, with Seifert scoring three of the last four goals to secure a 29:27 win and the title.

Argentinos Juniors finished on the podium, with a 26:24 win in the bronze-medal match against FMO.

EC Pinheiros return to the IHF Men’s Club World Championship for the first time since 2021, after losing the previous two finals against Taubaté, 27:29 and 20:22, aiming to improve on Taubaté’s eighth-placed and seventh-placed finishes in 2022, 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Credit photo: handballsca / Jorge Olmedo