Quite simply, Germany are the team to beat in China if any of the other 15 national sides want to have a chance of winning the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship title.

With two medals from their two previous IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship appearances – 16 years apart – the current title-holders have cemented themselves already in the history of the sport.

From 13 July 2021 to 28 May 2023  Alexander Novakovic’s side won every game – 34 in total – across four major championships, in a record that is unlikely to ever be equalled or beaten. This period saw Novakovic’s side win the EHF European Championship twice (2021, 2023), IHF World Championship (2022) and IWGA The World Games 2022 titles all without losing one match.

Their continental performance at the European Championships in Nazare, Portugal last year saw them drop just three sets in nine games – defeating France, Italy and then Denmark 2-0 (23:20, 19:16) in the group stage before dispatching Portugal (2-1), Norway and Croatia (both 2-0) in the main round. 

China 2024 opponents Greece suffered a 2-0 defeat in the quarter-finals before two shoot-out wins saw Germany to another gold. In the semi-final they defeated Spain (26:22, 16:24, SO 7:6) and they then beat Netherlands for gold (18:20, 20:14, SO 7:4).

Despite this record, they are beatable, losing three times across the European summer in 2023 after that incredible run, albeit with changed squads due to Novakovic and his coaching staff managing the playing schedule of his players in what was a busy 12 months for the sport.

The first loss came in the debut of Beach Handball at the European Games in Tarnow, Poland last June. Germany had defeated Greece and Portugal 2-0 but lost to the Netherlands 0-2 (12:19, 22:27) in the preliminary stage and then saw off the host nation 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

However, they were denied another title after losing to Denmark in a high-scoring semi-final, the first set finishing 26:28 and the second 32:33 both in favour of the Danes. Despite that disappointment, Germany ended up in their natural home, on the podium, after beating Norway 2-0 for bronze.

A few weeks later Denmark would come back again to haunt the Germans, and again, it was in Poland, on Stage 2 of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour (BHGT) in Plock in July.

In the opening game of the event, Denmark took a 2-1 (26:24, 16:26, SO 10:6) victory over the Germans, who eventually powered back to win the stage, defeating Croatia and Poland, and then getting their revenge over the Danes in the final (2-0, 22:14, 22:14).

These losses for Germany featured players not named in Novakovic’s squad of 10 for China 2024. From Tarnow, Dilayla Alarslan, Kirsten Walter, Michelle Schafer, Belen Gettwart, Isabel Kattner, Lucie Marie Kretzschmar, Julia Drachsler and Amelie Mollmann remain, while half of the BHGT squad Schafer, Gettwart, Kattner, Drachsler plus Nele Kurzke and Carolin Hubner – are heading to China 2024.

Last time out, at the 2022 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in Greece, they completely dismantled the historically best team in the women’s game – Brazil – 2-0, restricting them to just 18 points (26:14, 16:4). They will face the South Americans at China 2024, again in the opening stage.

Brazil was the first of nine games won 2-0 without conceding a set – against Hungary (18:14, 20:17), Norway (19:14, 27:20), Uruguay (22:12, 24:14), Argentina (18:16, 19:15), Netherlands (23:14, 26:14), Portugal in the quarter-finals (20:12, 10:8), Netherlands in the semi-final (18:10, 25:16) and Spain in the final (15:14, 22:20), their tightest game of all.

The key to Germany’s success is the team itself. No, one player scores all the points or makes all the decisions, despite each individual able to be identified as being key.

At Greece 2022, Germany did not have any scorers inside the top 10 and barely the top 20 but with Mollmann (19th, 91 points), Klingler (21st, 90) and Kattner (25th, 83) bunched together it simply highlights the multiple threat the team pose across the sand.

Kattner is also crucial in many other ways too, topping both the suspensions and penalty drawn lists at Greece with opposing defenders unable to stop her within the rules. Mollmann was named in the All-star Team as best right wing in Greece.

At The World Games a few weeks later in the USA, Germany again topped the podium defeating Mexico (2-0), Argentina (2-1), Norway (2-1), Australia (2-0) and the USA (2-0) in the preliminary group stage before seeing off the hosts again, in the semi-final (2-0) and the Norwegians again, in the final (2-0).

To further emphasise the impact that the German women’s team have had – and are currently having – on Beach Handball globally, Isabel Kattner and Lucie Marie Kretzschmar have been named to be part of the IHF Beach Handball Showcase event on the fringes of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with one of the four women’s teams at the event coached by Novakovic.

And the successful set-up is continuing with the 40-year-old coach and the German Handball Federation (DHB) extending their contract together in February
https://www.ihf.info/media-center/news/beach-handball-coaching-changes-international-competition-heats-2024, lengthening their partnership which started back in 2018.

“We're really happy and excited about coming to China and to play in our preliminary group against these tough teams, especially Brazil and for sure, also Greece,” said Novakovic to IHF.info about the challenge ahead of the team this month in Asia.

“It’s a little bit like the ‘Group of World Champions’,” he added. “You have Brazil, the IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship record title winners, and Greece, who gained the title (2018) before we had the chance to be the world champion in 2022. It will be tough, but we are really happy to play against these really strong teams.

“When we look one step forward into the main round, it could be a really ‘death-making’ main round group with three teams joining from Denmark, Norway, Netherlands and the United States. It will be really tough and whomever comes through that main round group will be in a good position for the quarter-finals.

“We're looking forward to it and we're really happy to be able to go to China. We have a lot of self-confidence but respect all the strong teams we will face in the preliminary group and – we hope – the main round too.”

One player not in the final squad for China 2024, but named in the provisional list was key goalkeeper Katharina Filter. After playing an integral part in Germany’s success on the sand, she has now become a mainstay in the German women’s indoor team and is set to appear at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games next month.

Novakovic admitted before his team travelled to Asia that there were “problems” with having just one preparation period ahead of the global event and then revealed that the goal of his side at China 2024 was to qualify for The World Games 2025, which will also take place in China.

Coach: Alexander Novakovic

Key Players: Belen Gettwart, Lucie Marie Kretzschmar

Qualification information: 2022 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship – 1st

History in Tournament: 2004: DNQ, 2006: 2nd, 2008-2018: DNQ, 2022: 1st

Group at China 2024: Group D: Germany, Brazil, Greece, Puerto Rico