In their last two world championship appearances coach Gorm Andersen and his Danish men’s beach handball team have come within touching distance of gold, but fallen just short both times.

At Greece 2022 history was made as they picked up the first-ever IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship medal for Denmark, taking silver after losing to Croatia in the final, 2-0 (24:22, 21:18), having gone into the event as 2021 EHF EURO winners, after beating the same team in the final.

And history in the world championship final would repeat 24 months later when they faced the strong Croatians again, and lost again, but this time in a much closer contest, 2-1 (23:18, 18:23, SO 9:6).

In-between these world championship appearances, bronze medals came in both the 2023 EHF EURO and European Games for the Danes, but this was not built upon, with a disappointing seventh at the last EHF EURO which, at least, confirmed their Croatia 2026 spot.

Like the Argentina vs Germany rivalry in the women’s beach handball game, Croatia vs Denmark is one in the men’s game, with Brazil also in the mix too, but the emergence of Germany, Portugal and other teams on the global stage, combined with aging Brazilian, Croatian and Danish players has altered the top table.

Evidence of this was at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu when Croatia and Denmark could only play-off for 5/6 place – Croatia winning via shoot-out, as Germany took the title and Portugal finished with silver.

Coach Andersen has once again called up the legendary Danish specialist Martin Vilstrup Andersen, part of the last two world championship All-star Teams (Greece 2022 – specialist, China 2024 – top scorer 131 points) and The World Games 2025 All-star Team as best specialist. Andersen is also well-experienced at the venue of Croatia 2026, having been a regular club player at Jarun Lake over the years.

The Danes have been drawn into an interesting group at Croatia 2026 with European rivals Hungary, African champions Tunisia and second-timers Puerto Rico.

Denmark have never played the Puerto Ricans, have five wins in five matches against Tunisia and have beaten Hungary nine times in their 12 meetings.

“We are really looking forward to the world championship as it will be a tournament where many nations, rightfully, travel there with medals as their objective – the field of teams capable of winning medals and reaching the semi-finals has become larger than before,” said Gorm Andersen to ihf.info ahead of the event.

“We have won silver the last two times, and of course we are going there with the dream of turning that into a gold medal. At the same time, we are humble and have great respect for our opponents. We know that no-one is handed a victory, a quarter-final spot, or a semi-final spot for free, so our first milestone is to reach the quarter-finals.

“We are incredibly excited and know that it will require hard work, unity, and determination if we are to achieve our goals. This time, we have a team where we are strong in all three areas, so we will of course give everything to bring home the trophy with the big ears.”

Coach: Gorm Andersen

Key Players: Jeppe Villumsen, Martin Vilstrup Andersen

Qualification information: 2025 EHF European Beach Handball Championship – 7th

History in Tournament: 2004-2008: DNQ, 2010: 5th, 2012: DNQ, 2014: 4th, 2016: DNQ, 2018: 7th, 2022: 2nd, 2024: 2nd

Group at Croatia 2026: Group B: Hungary, Denmark, Tunisia, Puerto Rico