Since finishing third at the 1995 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, Portugal had three more appearances in the top10 until finishing fourth at Spain 2019 and sixth at Germany/Greece 2023, a signal that they are back in business at this level.

Over the past two editions of the M20 EHF EURO, the continental competition where they play in, Portugal finished second both times, conceding losses to Spain in the two finals.

But now, Portugal are aiming for their second medal at the IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in history, exactly 30 years later after their first bronze. 

“Of course, we dream at a medal, especially because we started this competition in a perfect way, with five wins in five matches, so the confidence is there, also the desire is there to show what we can,” says Portugal’s left back Gabriel Cavalcanti.

Indeed, Portugal have started the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship with a flawless performance, with five wins in five matches, and coming back from behind, irrespective of how tough the opponent was.

Against Croatia, in the last match of the preliminary round, Portugal were down 11:13 at the break, but bounced back and produced a fantastic second half, where they scored 19 goals, to take a 30:25 win.

The next tough opponent were Sweden, in the last match of the main round. In the 28th minute, the Scandinavian side had a six-goal lead, 21:15. In the next 20 minutes, Sweden scored only four times and Portugal came back, on their way to a 31:29 win.

“This shows just how resilient we are. We always try to find new ways to win, we always up our game when needed. We really hope we can go far, but we also know that there is no easy opponent in this competition,” adds Cavalcanti.

While the name might be familiar to many handball fans around there, it’s because Gabriel is Alexandre’s younger brother. Alexandre made his debut in the senior national team when he was only 20 years old and was part of the Portugal squad at three IHF Men’s World Championship editions so far, at Egypt 2021, Poland/Sweden 2023 and Croatia/Denmark/Norway 2025.

He played for SL Benfica, HBC Nantes and now is at the surprise package of the German Bundesliga, MT Melsungen, featuring in Roberto Garcia Parrondo’s team as a defensive mainstay, thanks to his towering presence.

“Of course, Alexandre was a model to me, because he is my brother. I played football for nine years, but then I fell in love with handball and I was playing it ever since. I have been at Almada, and than at Benfica and I love this sport,” says Gabriel Cavalcanti.

The sport runs in the Cavalcanti family. The parents, Marcelo and Marise, came from Brazil to play volleyball in Portugal, where their children have been born. While Alexandre and Gabriel are playing handball, the daughter, Amanda, is a national team player for the Portugal women’s volleyball team.

“Sport is very important in our family, and we all play handball or volleyball. This is the way it is for us,” says Gabriel Cavalcanti.

With a full career in front of him and a big talent for Portuguese handball, we might see the two Cavalcanti brothers in the senior national team sooner rather than later. It follows a pattern for Portuguese handball, with the Costa brothers – Martim and Francisco – also lighting up the court first at the youth and junior level and now at the seniorr level.

And handball has become very, very popular in Portugal, with the senior team’s last two matches at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship being broadcasted by the biggest domestic television, RTP 1, after being usually shown on RTP 2, the second national channel in Portugal.

“Personally, I would like to see handball become even more popular and more matches broadcasted on the most important channels. This is the way to go and this is the way that the sport can grow even further and become even more popular in our country,” says Cavalcanti.

The first step for this generation to help boost the appeal even further will be a win against Egypt on Thursday, in the quarter-finals of the 2025 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship.

There are no easy matches now, as Egypt have won against the title favourites, Spain, eliminating them from contention. But Cavalcanti is confident.

“I know we can win. They are a tough opponent, nothing is easy in this phase, when a loss can mean elimination. But we studied Egypt, we know what they can do, so I hope we are prepared and we win this match and make it into the semi-finals for the third time in our history,” concludes Cavalcanti.