With experience, Portugal debut at The World Games and look to top five finish

“The Portuguese Handball Federation began participating internationally in beach handball events in 2014, with the national youth teams featuring some leading players on the international scene such as Salvador Salvador, Miguel Martins, Diogo Rema, Francisco Costa, and Martim Costa,” explains Mario Bernardes, National Beach Handball Co-ordinator – Portuguese Handball Federation.

“Portugal’s men won silver at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 and we currently have more than 2,500 federated athletes in the sport and around 200 teams. In the last two years, we have always been present in both the men’s and women’s European and World Championships and now both our team are at The World Games.

“We have been working hard on recruitment, starting with under-14s, who already compete regularly and this year, 118 teams recently competed in our national championships, across various age groups. The focus continues to be on training, which is the basis for the success achieved in recent years.”

That success is clear. Last year at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in China, Portugal’s men came within touching distance of a medal, finishing fourth in just their second-ever appearance at the global event – their previous best was 10th at Greece 2022. The world championship fourth place had followed bronze at the 2023 European Championship.

In China 12 months ago the Portuguese lost to two of their Chengdu 2025 opponents in the qualification rounds, against Croatia 0-2 (12:16, 20:22) and then Germany, 0-2 (18:25, 12:17) but they showed their potential and fight with a 2-1 (17:15, 14:19, SO 10:8) quarter-final victory over their other Chengdu opponent, Brazil.

Unfortunately, Croatia stood in their way again and as they Croats moved closer to their eventual gold, they saw off the Portuguese for the second time, 2-0, this time 27:24, 22:14.

But again, Portugal bounced back, rising up against Germany to overt urn their earlier lost when it mattered the most, impressing in a 2-0 (25:24, 20:18) to secure their first-ever medal in the competition – and qualification for Chengdu 2025. Goalkeeper Ricardo Castro was also voted into the All-star Team and last season was elected MVP of the European beach handball season.

However, this year has been a bit of a mixed bag for the Portuguese men. Their European Championship campaign got off to a good start with two 2-0 wins over Turkiye and Czechia, but Germany again defeated them 2-0 (23:22, 26:20) in their preliminary group. Portugal did get closer to Croatia in the main round, losing this time via shoot-out, 1-2 (19:18, 20:23, 10:11) like they did against Denmark, 1-2 (17:16, 16:23, SO 9:8), in their opener. Sandwiched in-between was a 2-0 win over Poland. 

Hungary then defeated them in the quarter-finals 1-2 (17:16, 14:26, SO 6:7) – another game in which Portugal had won the first set, but lost the second and then the game. Potential Chengdu quarter-final opponents Denmark were then beaten in the 5-8 placement round 2-1 (16:18, 17:16, SO 7:6), but Portugal ended with a 1-2 (21:14, 14:15, SO 16:17) loss against France to finish sixth.

A few weeks after their continental experience, Portugal participated in the second stage of the 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour in Laredo, Spain. Two shoot-out losses against Spain and wins against the USA and Poland saw the Portuguese side take silver in their neighbours’ backyard.

Guiding Portugal in Chengdu will be 36-year-old head coach Pedro Serrano, who split duties with now women’s national team coach Agustín Collado Rodríguez at China 2024.

“This is a hugely prestigious competition, bringing together the world's best beach handball teams, and Portugal is very proud to be among them,” said the Algeciras native. “Our place was secured in historic and well-deserved fashion, with third place in last year's world championship – an unprecedented achievement for Portuguese beach handball and proof of the consistent work we have been doing.”

“We are amazed by the dimension that The World Games have and it's an honour and a big responsibility to represent Portugal in such a competition,” added Castro. “But Portugal is an ambitious country, so we are confident that Chengdu will remember us.”

Coach: Pedro Serrano
Key players: Ricardo Castro (Goalkeeper), Ruben Ribeiro (Left Wing)
Qualification information: 3rd – 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship
History in tournament: 2001-2022: DNQ
Group at The World Games Chengdu 2025: Group A – Brazil, Germany, Croatia, Portugal