The second stage of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour (BHGT) gets underway tomorrow (Thursday 15 August).

The two-day event in Spain features the men’s and women’s national teams of Germany, Portugal, Denmark and the host nation with numerous players who appeared at the IHF Beach Handball Showcase event held on the sidelines of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games competing.

A total of 16 games will be played in in the historic port city of Cádiz in the south-west of the country – eight in each competition – with an initial four-team, preliminary group in each competition of round-robin games across one-and-a-half matchdays – Thursday 15 August and the morning of Friday 16 August – before the 3/4 placement and final matches on Friday evening.

2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship runners-up Denmark are set to hand several young players their debut in Spain with Laurids Nygaard Ulrichsen, Anton Villemoes Larsen, Casper Hebsgaard Mortensen, Mikkel Mathiesen Scaglione and William Lyng Bjerre selected by coach Gorm Andersen.

“We have kept the men's squad wide for a long time and have made sure to bring in new players continuously for national team meetings,” said Andersen, speaking to danskhaandbold.dk.

“But for this tournament we have also selected our two probably most experienced players, Jeppe Villumsen and Martin Vilstrup Andersen, whom the younger players can learn from and lean on. We are looking forward to hopefully playing in front of a lot of people in Cádiz, which is a Beach Handball-happy city.”

On the women’s side, Emilie West Ingemann Zangenberg, Emilie Skøtt Winther, Freja Hauge Hansen, Katinka Willemoes Nielsen and Mathilde Guldager Østergaard are all set to make their debuts on the sand for Denmark.

“We would like to use the tournament to look a little wider and look at new players,” said women’s coach Morten Frandsen Holmen. “Denmark already has many good Beach Handball players who can play at international level, and we also want to have that in the future.”

For Portugal, their men’s side will look to extend their impressive run of results in 2024, which saw them finish third at the 2024 world championship, which were held in China.

“We are ready for the Global Tour,” said Portugal men’s coach Pedro Serrano to fpa.pt. “We are facing this competition with a great desire to continue making history and continuing a great summer of competitions. The level of demand will be high, as the second, third, fourth and fifth-placed teams from the last world championships will be participating. 

“Like the other countries, we have new players who will add experience, which will help us in the future with the possibility of having 18-20 top-level players. We embrace this competition confident that Portugal will be well represented and will have a memorable competition.”

Serrano’s counterpart Agustín Collado Rodríguez is also hoping to capitalise on the wave of improvement from Portugal, with his women’s side finishing sixth at China 2024.

“This is the last competition of the summer and there are some new faces compared to the last world championship,” he said to fpa.pt.

“It is important to have a large group of athletes with international experience at this level. The competition will be demanding – we will be competing against teams that have achieved great results: Germany, the world champions, plus Denmark and Spain, who finished fourth and fifth in China.

“We know that we have to continue to grow to take this final firm step to put us in the constant fight for medals, but it is not easy and is increasingly complicated. The competitions are more demanding and we have huge steps ahead of us, but now is the time to fight for a place in the Global Tour Final and thus be able to compete in a new competition, which will help us take another step towards the important and tough competition that we will have next year. We will continue to work to maintain our level of play and our principles, which are what are bringing us closer to the top today.”

With the European Beach Handball season nearing its crescendo, players from Portugal and Germany will be well-prepared for Cádiz with the 2024 Portugal Beach Handball Tour and German Beach Handball Championship recently concluding in their respective countries.

The officials and referees for Cádiz have also been announced. The referees will be Sylwia Bartkowiak and Weronika Lakomy from Poland, Corina Constantin and Daniela Enache from Romania and the Spanish duo of Marcos Outeda and Hector Munoz. Czechia’s Jiri Opava and Spain’s Paola Casales are the IHF Technical Delegates.

To read a preview of the games taking place in Cádiz, click HERE.

All 16 matches of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Stage 2 will be streamed live on the IHF YouTube Competitions channel.

2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Stage 2 - Match Schedule
(all times local)
 
Thursday 15 August

Women’s Competition
1030 POR vs DEN
1230 GER vs ESP
1700 DEN vs GER
1900 POR vs ESP

Men’s Competition
1130 POR vs DEN
1330 GER vs ESP
1800 DEN vs GER
2000 POR vs ESP

Friday 16 August

Women’s Competition
1030 GER vs POR
1230 ESP vs DEN
1700 Placement 3/4
1900 Final

Men’s Competition
1130 GER vs POR
1330 ESP vs DEN
1800 Placement 3/4
2000 Final

2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Stage 2
Location: Cadiz, Spain
Dates: 15 to 16 August
Men’s Teams: Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain
Women’s Teams: Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain

About the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour
The IHF Beach Handball Global Tour was launched at the 2022 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Greece and debuted in Gdansk, Poland with Croatia winning the men’s tournament and Spain taking the top spot in the women’s tournament.

The 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour visited Brazil, Tunisia and Poland before the Finals Stage was held in Doha, Qatar in November, with Qatar’s men and Brazil’s women taking the overall titles.

The 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour commenced in May with Stage 1 in Maricá, Brazil. The host nation won both the men’s and women’s competitions.