Zamalek Club are the last team to progress to the Group Phase of the 2026 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, after securing a clear 40:17 win against Los Angeles Handball Club in the second preliminary qualification match.

PRELIMINARY QUALIFICATION MATCH
Los Angeles Handball Club (USA) vs Zamalek Club (EGY) 17:40 (11:21)

The teams representing the United States of America did not enjoy much success at the IHF Men’s Club World Championship historically and Los Angeles Handball Club were again underdogs against a Zamalek side, which clearly had much experience at this level.

However, Zamalek were also full of young talent ready to break through, with an average age of 24.6 years old and LA, with seasoned players, managed to stay close for the first 20 minutes. But when their starters got tired feet, things did not look well for the North America and the Caribbean champions.

For the first 10 minutes, the match was quite close, as LA hovered around three or four goals behind Zamalek, thanks to some excellent saves from goalkeeper Frank Krone Mikkelsen, who managed four saves in the first 12 minutes. However, when those started drying up, so has LA’s luck.

Zamalek waited for the right moment and started pouncing, with fast breaks carrying the load. And after six minutes where only one goal was scored and Zamalek were leading 10:8, they went on a 13:2 run which was the backbone of their win.

Mohamed Elbattawi had four goals in that span and Belal Massoud added four more to increase the lead to double digits at half time, 21:11, with the gap growing even bigger in the second half, as coaches Dani Gordo and Morten Olsen had no answer for Zamalek’s performance.

And from that moment on, it was only Zamalek threading the needle and pushing on. With LA’s energy reserves depleted, the Egyptian side continued to power on and created chance after chance on the fast breaks.

As LA scored only three goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half, the gap was already at 15 goals by that point and Zamalek continued to press, with all but two of their outfield players scoring at least one goal.

Belal Massoud finished the match with eight goals, Abdelrhman Aly added six, while goalkeeper Hesham Elsobky saved 11 shots, for a 53% saving efficiency, doubled by his replacement, Youssef Salama, who had 11 saves for a 61% saving efficiency.

Eventually, Zamalek clinched a huge win, and are heading into Group A, where they play reigning champions Barcelona, Brazilian side E.C. Pinheiros and their opponent on Friday, Montada.

LA HC will now feature in the Placement Matches 9/10, where they face Sydney Uni twice.

Player of the Match: Belal Massoud (Zamalek Club)