Croatia hoping a podium return is possible

After the Netherlands did not take up their qualification spot for The World Games Chengdu 2025, Croatia, with their seventh place finish at the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in China last year, were next in line and confirmed their participation.

2025 represents their third appearance at the global multi-sport event, coming after their debut 20 years ago, a fourth-placed finish in 2005 and then a silver medal in 2009.

Since then, they have not qualified, but 2025 represents a chance to join their successful men’s side in camp at the event and look to repeat that medal success from 16 years ago.

But their 13th-place ranking at the 2025 EHF Women’s European Beach Handball Championship in Turkiye last month suggests another podium spot could be out of reach – they lost all three of their preliminary group games to finish bottom of the group and move into the 13-16 round.

Despite that performance, Croatia will be in good physical condition and tournament ready, the continental championship coming after the side appeared at the first stage of the 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour, held in Tunisia in June. They played four games in North Africa and ended with bronze, defeating Tunisia twice, but losing to Greece via shoot-out and eventual winners Spain, 2-0.

For The World Games, Croatia were drawn into a group featuring Portugal, Argentina and host nation People’s Republic of China, three teams they have not faced at The World Games, but who they did face in China last year, at the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship – losing to Argentina (2-0) in the preliminary round and Portugal (2-1) in the main round, but defeating China 2-1 in the second stage, on their way to an impressive seventh-place ranking after defeating Brazil in their final game.

“The World Games draw has placed us in a challenging and exciting group,” said Croatia’s Lara Miholic to ihf.info. “Argentina are one of the strongest teams in the world and current world championship runners-up. They are a fast and well-organised team with high-quality players in every position.

“Portugal are a team that keeps improving year-after-year. They play a modern and dynamic style of beach handball and are coming into the tournament with big ambitions. China proved at the last world championship that they rightfully belong among the top teams. Their progress is clear, and playing in front of a home crowd will give them additional motivation and strength.

“We know we have a tough job ahead of us,” she added. “But there’s a positive atmosphere within the team and our goals are clearly set. We have high expectations and want to prove that we belong at the very top of beach handball. Our preparations have gone well – we’ve trained hard and we’re ready to give everything we have for the Croatian jersey.

“The team traveling to China has been playing together for many years, which gives us extra strength and stability. Every player has experience from major international competitions and knows how to perform under pressure. We believe in our game, we believe in each other, and we can’t wait for it to begin.”

Coach: Drago Fantic
Key players: Lara Miholic (Right Wing), Anja Haramina (Left Wing)
Qualification information: 7th – 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship (Replaced Netherlands)
History in tournament: 2001: DNQ, 2005: 4th, 2009: 2nd, 2013-2022: DNQ
Group at The World Games Chengdu 2025: Group B – Croatia, Portugal, Argentina, People’s Republic of China