Spain’s women team are a unique side at the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s World Championships. Out of the 31 national sides participating in the global event they remain the only one to have won all six of their games so far 2-0, a perfect record.

That record could be tested on Saturday (27 June) when they faced 2018 world champions Greece in their early morning quarter-final clash, but after taking down Germany in their final main round game, the Spanish side go into the last eight test full of confidence after the European champions defeated the current world champions 2-0 (17:12, 17:12) thanks to goalkeeper Patricia Encinas, who was on a 50% save rate deep into the second set and Jimena Lacuna’s 14 points scored down the other end.

“Germany are one of the best teams here – we have a lot of respect for them and knew we had to be humble in the match,” said Spain’s Malena Diaz Coppens to ihf.info. “Each of our players did a really good job – our goalkeepers did really well – but we won 2-0 because of the team.”

That team is constantly evolving and changing, with Spain missing the legendary player Asun Batista this year due to injury and a number of new players joining the team known as the ‘Guerreras’ (Warriors).

And that squad features a quartet of 2022 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship winners, including Diaz Coppens.

 

“Each year the Spanish national team brings in different players from different teams, so we didn't expect anything here as we’re taking it step-by-step, taking into account information from our coaches who always do a great job,” explained the 21-year-old.

“It's difficult for the players who have been here for many years, because each year there are new players and a new team, but they do a really great job, because we have a really good feeling and they support us a lot; we feel like a family, everyone, each of us, and this is very important.

“We take into account a lot of information from our coaches; they are doing really good work with us because we have some new players in our team. They're doing really well because they are getting to know us each match and that's the key: each player of us has different qualities, and together we can be a really good team.”

Just getting into that team has become harder admits Diaz Coppens as hailing from one of the hotbeds of the sport in Spain, has made a national team selection even more difficult than ever.

And this is evidenced by the women’s continental gold last year complimented by their men’s team winning silver at the same event which itself came off the back of the women and the men topping the podium at the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championships in Tunisia in June. Spain’s women also won gold in the Youth EHF EURO too later that year.

“I started playing beach handball when I was maybe are 14 years old,” explained Diaz Coppens about the culture of the sport in Spain. “Now, I play in a really good club and we're trying to do our best all the time. In Spain, we take this sport really seriously because all summer, we're playing a lot of leagues and championships and each year more and more teams are playing in these with a lot of players playing really good beach handball. 

 

“Each year it’s a higher level, because there are a lot more championships and international championships like ebt, EHF Champions Cup, IHF Global Tour, so getting into the national team of Spain for us is more difficult each year and it's a challenge to be here. As the 10 players here, we're really grateful.”

Despite coming to Croatia 2026 as European champions after winning gold in Turkiye last year, Diaz Coppens admitted that expectations were kept in check ahead of their arrival, but those thoughts might just be changing.

“We're going step-by-step, progressing, but, for example, we treated the Germany game as like it could be the final, so we were playing as it was the final, but it was a main round game,” she added.

“But every game in beach handball is a final. It’s always the same. Now, we are in the quarter-finals so if we lose, we're out. All games are the last dance, always a final, and now we're really motivated because we are seeing match-by-match that we can win. We’ve won every game up to now, so we're going to go to the top if we can.

“We didn’t expect to get into the gold medals this year, just to maybe get a medal, to feel good in this team and feel like we are progressing. But now our goal has changed. We are really motivated to get to the gold medals. Now our challenge is to get to the gold medal.”