Despite being a base for club handball on the sand in Europe, thanks to the numerous events held in the coastal town of Nazare – home to some of the biggest waves in the world – Portugal’s senior national sides have not yet made waves on a continental or global level, at least in the medal tables.

A pair of fourth-placed finishes on home sand at the Nazare-based European Championships last year are their best results at senior level, while Portugal’s pedigree at IHF World Championship level is hard to gauge, with the women’s team making their debut in the global event just two years ago, at Greece 2022 and finishing eighth.

Women’s coach Agustin Collado is also overseeing the men’s side in China 2024 in his role as Technical Coordinator for the Portuguese national teams and is clear about his objectives in Pingtan later this month, where the women’s side will face People’s Republic of China, Philippines and Australia in the preliminary round.

“We have a lot of work ahead and a great challenge with high-level male and female athletes, who aim to improve the rankings obtained from the last world championships,” said Collado to fpa.pt. “For this, arriving well-prepared for the big competition will be essential.”

That preparation saw Portugal compete at Stage 1 of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour in Marica, Brazil in May and travel to Spain for a friendly tournament featuring multiple games against Spain and Qatar in Cadiz in early June.

Their opening day in Brazil saw mixed results, with a 2-0 (18:6, 28:2) win over the USA followed by a 4:6 shoot-out loss against Argentina. Another shoot-out loss (2:9) then followed, against Uruguay and then again, against Brazil after the Portuguese had taken a 25:24 first set win, eventually losing 4:7 in the shoot-out. Their preliminary round campaign wrapped up with a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico.

In the knock-out stages, Brazil stepped up in the semi-finals, defeating the Portuguese again, this time, more clearly (2-0, (24:12, 26:18) and then suffered a second loss against Uruguay, in the 3/4 placement round (0-2).

“The IHF Beach Handball Global Tour is another opportunity to continue growing, competing at the highest level and fighting to improve ourselves every day,” added Collado to fpa.pt at the event.

“For us it will be a test so that we can study and evaluate the current state of the team and how the new players will be able to fit in. We will also have the opportunity to compete against possible rivals at the world championship.

“We know the work we have to do and our focus is on the evolution of the collective and the competitive context of each athlete individually. The Global Tour helped us identify what we need to work on to improve and what we need to reinforce to reach the world championship in the best possible conditions.”

In Spain, Portugal lost all three clashes against the host nation 0-2, but beat Slovakia twice via shoot-out.

Despite the losses in 2024 so far, Portugal will be buoyed by their most successful year in the sport so far.

In 2023, they finished fourth at their home European Championship, impressively beating Denmark 2-1 in the quarter-final, before losing to the Netherlands 0-2 in the semi-final. And despite the heartbreak of losing a home bronze medal match against Spain (1-2) it was by far their best-ever ranking at the continental event.

A few weeks later, Portugal were present at the debut of Beach Handball in the European Games last June in Poland, Portugal finished sixth, losing their 5/6 placement match against Netherlands. They had started the campaign against the same team with the same result, followed by a 0-2 loss against Germany and 1-2 defeat to Greece.

A fourth straight loss then came in the quarter-final against Denmark (0-2), but the Portuguese finally got a win, defeating the host nation Poland in the 5-8 placement round, 2-1.

And to wrap up their 2023, they grabbed bronze at the third edition of the Mediterranean Beach Games in Greece. Their campaign saw them beat Croatia, Cyprus, Italy and Tunisia 2-0 and lose to Greece (0-2) and Spain (0-2). Greece then defeated them again, 2-0, in the semi-final, before Portugal regrouped and defeated Italy for bronze.

Two key players for Spain at China 2024 will be Cristiana Morgado and Ana Maria Ursu, both of whom have been named in the IHF Beach Handball Showcase event which is being held on the fringes of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Coach: Agustin Collado

Key Players: Cristiana Morgado, Ana Maria Ursu

Qualification information: 2023 EHF Women’s European Beach Handball Championships – 4th

History in Tournament: 2004-2018: DNQ, 2022: 8th

Group at China 2024: Group A: Portugal, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, Australia