In their debut match at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, Asian champions Sharjah SC secured their first win, with a good performance against the California Eagles, 35:30.

GROUP A
Sharjah SC (UAE) vs California Eagles (USA) 35:30 (18:15)

Two teams seeking for their maiden win at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship faced off in this edition’s opening match in the New Administrative Capital in Egypt, as the California Eagles, in their second appearance in the competition, met Sharjah SC.

Sharjah, the first-ever team from the United Arab Emirates to play in the competition, had a bigger experience, boasting a line-up featuring Tunisian left back Mosbah Sanai, who had previously played at this level, but also several under-20 Egyptian players, with centre back Abdallah Hamza recently featuring prominently at the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship.

The Emirati side was led by Brazilian coach Marcus “Tata” Oliveira, while the Eagles had Argentinian coach Guillermo Milano spearheading the squad and that made for a pretty well-balanced match, at least for the first 40 minutes.

Sharjah took an early three-goal lead, 6:3, but that was soon cancelled by a fiery 3:0 run from the Eagles. Still, with Sanai and left wing Tariq Almaazmi providing some efficient shots, the Asian side maintained a three-goal lead until the end of the first half, 18:15, constantly forcing the Eagles to play from behind.

A better outing than in the previous appearance from the USA side, which had a strong hand in attack from left back Zuwed Akuro, who scored seven times after entering in the 11th minute, prompted a quick team time-out from Oliveira after only 38 minutes, when the Eagles were threatening to tie the score.

That time-out worked miracles, as Sharjah outscored their opponents 4:1 to open their first five-goal lead, 26:21, after 41 minutes, with Milano being forced to take the time-out to weather the storm.

But that was the pivotal moment of the match, after which the California Eagles could not do anything to avoid defeat. Akuro provided some more highlights, with two perfectly-placed lobs to increase his tally to 10 goals at the end of the match, but with the defence failing to stop Sharjah, the Asian team could finally break free and increase the gap, marching to a decisive 35:30 win, not before the Eagles threatened to mount a comeback by cutting the lead to three goals, with three minutes left.

Almaazmi was the team’s top scorer, with eight goals, followed by Sanai, with seven goals, as Sharjah and the Eagles will face the European champions, Magdeburg, next.

Player of the Match: Mosbah Sanai (Sharjah SC)