Beach Handball and Italy are inextricably linked thanks to the first organised, rules-based beach handball match played on the island of Ponza in the European nation on 20 June 1992.

That date is now recognised every year with the annual ‘International Beach Handball Day’ celebrations and for many years, Italy’s women were celebrating their own success at the top table of the sport.

In 2004 they won bronze at the IHF World Championship and in 2009 they won the EHF EURO and The World Games, grabbing other medals along the way while qualifying for nearly all editions of the world championship right up to 2016 and every, single edition of their continental event up to 2023.

However, for the men, it has been a different story. 

While they have numerous appearances at European championships, the Italian men have never medalled at continental level, and at a global, senior level, they had never even qualified for an IHF World Championship – although a solitary silver was gained at the IHF Men’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship back in 2017.

But that global qualification status changed last year when an eighth-place finish at the EHF EURO booked a spot at the 2026 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in Croatia.

“For a long time the women’s team was our only experience of the IHF Beach Handball World Championship and the men’s side were a little bit at the lowest level,” explained Italy’s coach Pasquale Maione to ihf.info after his side had played their debut match at Croatia 2026, against Brazil.

“Now, the situation has completely changed for the men’s team and it's like a dream for us. We're really happy to be here. Our federation perfectly knows that we are the nation where beach handball started and, for this reason, we are expected to be at our best level here to get Italy to the highest level of competition in the next EHF EURO and, we hope, in the next world championship too.”

Against Brazil in the opening morning game of Croatia 2026, Italy – captained by Cristian Mitteruztner, the last remaining player from that 2017 silver medallist youth squad – lost the first set against the record champions 28:16, before tightening up in the second, losing again, 21:18.

Despite that 2-0 loss, coach Maione and his side learned a lot from the experience against the five-time world champions and their coach Antonio Guerra Peixe.

 

“It's a good thing to have our first game with the best team in the world as it means we are experiencing immediately the highest level of competition in the world,” explained the coach.

“We are here to enjoy the competition and to experience this level of competition. We're sad we lost, but we're still happy. The first set we've lost badly, we can say, but in the second we had a lot of chances to be competitive with one of the best – or maybe the best – teams in the world.

“What we learned is that it’s the details which make the difference. We need to improve in our games, but we need to watch the details, so we are quite happy [as this] sets the team up for the next game.

With 12 points, Italy’s Alessandro Benini was joint top-scorer for his side in the game, making history when he sunk home the first goal and register the first-ever men’s senior world championship points.

“It's an incredible feeling, because it's been 10 years or so that I have played beach handball and it's my first world championship. To score the first goal for Italy, for my country, is really an incredible feeling,” explained Benini after the Brazil opener.

“We lost this first, tough, game against Brazil, one of the top teams in the world, but we can also take some good things from this match. For example, we started the first set not with the mind open, but in the second set we started to do grow, and, if you look at the score, the second set is better than the first.

“It’s a world championship. It’s another level,” he added. “We have to remember that we are Italy. It's our first time here, so we have to stay calm, learn step-by-step, and try to win a game. I'm proud to be here and I will do my best to try to reach the top in the future, to reach the best position. 

“We started 10 years ago and [at my first European Championship], we arrived in the last position. But then we trained every year, every year, every year and last year we arrived to be there. It's emotional.”

Managing the emotions of his players will be key for coach Maione as his side look to make their mark in Croatia but the coach is thinking further than the next week of games in Zagreb.

“Our objective clearly is to be in the next world championship and to get there by catching the qualification at the next EURO,” he said. “We know that it will be more difficult for us now though. We were the underdog, but now – maybe – other national teams are playing us with another mindset, so we need to improve a lot.”