With just three previous senior IHF Beach Handball World Championship appearances, the Islamic Republic of Iran men’s team are relative newcomers to the tournament, Croatia 2026 their first appearance in the global event since 2022.

Iran qualified for Croatia thanks to their runners-up spot at the 2025 Asian Championships last year, where they lost to Oman in the final – a tournament in which continental powerhouse Qatar did not enter a team.

Mehdi Qashqai-Rad’s side won all four of their preliminary group games, moving through the quarter-finals and semi-finals with ease to face Oman on home sand for gold and to defend their 2022 title.

But it was not to be as, inspired by a player of the match performance from Oman goalkeeper Hudhaifa Alsiyabi, they lost 2-0 (21:18, 14:10).

Despite that disappointment, Iran bounced back in style at the recent Asian Beach Games, which took place in China earlier this year, Iran’s preparations disrupted due to war, and a 50-hour journey to Sanya.

They won gold on the sand in China last April impressing with a 2-1 (18:10, 10:15, SO 9:6) final victory over Qatar in a hard-fought match which went to a shoot-out.

Iran’s Ali Shirani Dastjerdi’s single point with his side’s fifth shot was enough to take the title for his team who had won all their previous games up to the semi-final stage 2-0, against Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and China, before Thailand took them to shots, Iran winning 2-1 (19:16, 16:18, SO 8:6).

Coached by Mehdi Ghashghaei Rad and captained by Amin Kazemi, Iran face an interesting test in their preliminary group with traditionally-strong Spain, joined by 2024 world championship bronze medallists Portugal and North America and the Caribbean champions, United States of America.

Iran beat Portugal twice at Greece 2022 in the main round (2-1) and 9/10 placement match (2-0) and also saw off the USA on the same sand, but in the youth event.

Rad’s team will include a mixture of youth and experience, including Ali Heidarian, who won bronze with Iran at the 2022 IHF Men’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship and was voted into the All-star Team as best pivot, although key player Ali Shirani is not available for selection.

“This is a golden opportunity to showcase the potential of Iranian handball to the handball world,” said Rad to ihf.info. “We want to achieve the best position in the history of Iranian handball and hope that another history-making event is coming.

“We are without some key players wo we have added some young players in their place – we are likely to be one of the youngest teams at the world championship with an average age of 24, with just one player over 30.”

Rad, speaking to local media isna.ir, was also quick to point out just how far Iran have come on the global beach scene in recent years.

“I can boldly say that Iranian beach handball is now at its best and highest point in its history in Asia,” he added.

“We have a very difficult group in the upcoming world championship, but if the federation's planning goes well, we really have the capacity to be among the top four teams in the world. I had said the same thing about the junior team before, and maybe it was hard to believe, but that team eventually won the world bronze medal and even had a chance to appear in the final.

“Technically, we are not far behind the big teams in the world. Our main problem is the lack of international games outside of Asia as, in Asia, the style of play is different, but in the world, there are more diverse defensive and offensive models.

“For example, in the world championship we may face a defensive model that we have not experienced at all in Asia,” he explained. “Watching film and analysing helps, but until you play against that style, you do not gain real experience. Our weakness is not technical; our weakness is the lack of international experience at the world's top level.”

Coach: Mehdi Ghashghaei Rad
Key Players: Amin Kazemi, Ali Heidarian, Mehdi Hidarian Pour
Qualification information: 2025 AHF Asian Beach Handball Championship – 2nd
History in Tournament: 2004-2006: DNQ, 2008: 11th, 2010-2016: DNQ, 2018: 8th,  2022: 9th, 2024: DNQ

Group at Croatia 2026: Group A: Spain, Portugal, Islamic Republic of Iran, United States of America