The four finalists of the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championships are now known after the fifth day of action finished with an intense double session on the Tunisian sand.

After the morning session had completed, the semi-finalists were known and after the sand settled around 1900hrs local time all four finalists revealed themselves.

All games can be watched again on the IHF YouTube Competitions channel.

Spain and Germany squeeze through to face off for gold medal match

The teams who finished seventh and eighth at the 2022 IHF Men’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship will now play each other for gold after coming through two tight semi-finals.

Hugo Guerrero was ultimately the hero for Spain, his single point golden goal taking the victory, but the does not tell the whole story, with both sets ending 14:14 in regulation time and a golden goal deciding both. 

The first set had seen its 10 minutes finished, but Brazil, 12:14 behind, had a free-throw just inside the Spain half. With a three-man wall and goalkeeper to get past, Uni Amorim had other ideas and got through an unstoppable shot to take it to a golden goal, but Jesus Sanchez found the back of the net for the European side.

More drama was to come at the end of an incredible second set, with Hugo Guerrero smashing home the single point this time for the golden goal again – and the game – but only after Brazil had been fouled after winning the ball on the restart and seeing their six-metre penalty shot saved.

“I am feeling great,” said Spain’s Robin John Del Castillo Clanchy to ihf.info. “It was a very tough match, but we made a great defence, and had a good collaboration with the goalkeepers which basically gave us the whole match.

“It was a very intense match, very equal, and both could have won but I guess our goalkeepers did the job, so all thanks to them. The final is going be a tough and difficult match. We want nothing but the gold medal, because last year in the EURO we got the silver after working all year.”

The other semi-final always went to a shoot-out after debutants Hungary were beaten 6:4 by an open goal shot from Yannick Alt. Finn Jacobsen led the scoring for Germany on 10 points, while Marko Forgacs ended on 16 for the Hungarians.

The 5-8 placement round saw Thailand beat Oman to end as the highest-ranked Asian side and they will face Tunisia in the 5/6 placement after they beat Argentina. Further matches were held in the 9-12 placement round, while the Cook Islands ended their Tunisia 2025 campaign with another loss, against Kenya, but came close to taking their first-ever set, just losing out in the final moments after shooting wide at 12:14 down.

Spain and Germany rise above to make women’s final

In the end, both women’s semi-finals ended with clear wins, Germany defeating Hungary 2-0 (24:20, 21:18) and Spain seeing off Netherlands 2-0 (25:22, 24:14). 

That loss for the Dutch brought an end to the unbeaten tournament run for the side, who had won seven straight games before this last four defeat. 

“It’s amazing, I can’t even describe it in words. It feels unreal, such an amazing feeling. Everyone’s cheering for you and there are so many cameras… it’s just such a great atmosphere,” said Germany’s Mia Borkowski to ihf.info.

“Last year, at the European Championships, we got knocked out in the quarter-finals so this time, we really wanted to win at least the quarter-finals. And now we’ve made it to the final - we just kept pushing. I’m so grateful for every one of you (family and friends supporting her) for cheering me on and for always keeping me up during my downs. I’m really thankful for all of you”

Spain had Lucia Selas (13 points) to thank, while Emma Pilz’s 15 points for Germany saw her top-scorer for her side.

“We’re so excited,” said Spain’s Abril Torres Corbera to ihf.info. “We’ve trained a lot, so the match felt very comfortable for us. The crowd was amazing, and we’re so happy to have our families here cheering us on. We’re really excited - it’s incredible: we won, our men won, so let’s go.

“We’re always outside singing, dancing, and having fun and I’m so proud of my team,” she added.

Hopefully we can win but the game against Germany will be very difficult because they are a very strong opponent. They’re good in both attack and defence, but so are we. If we played like today, we’ll win.”

Mexico women ended their Tunisia 2025 campaign without a win, losing to Senegal in their 13-16 placement round match, while an incredible 20 points from Ploypailin Omchomphoo was not enough for Thailand in their continental clash against China, which saw them lose 5:2 via shoot-out to the Asian champions.

In the other matches there were wins for Uruguay, who end as the top-ranked women’s SCAHC side, France and Tunisia.

Saturday 21 June – Afternoon/Evening Results

Men’s Competition

Semi-Finals
BRA vs ESP 0-2 (14:15, 14:15)
GER vs HUN 2-1 (12:16, 17:16, SO 6:4)

5-8 Placement Round
ARG vs TUN 0-2 (20:21, 18:19)
OMA vs THA 0-2 (18:19, 10:18)

9-12 Placement Round
CRO vs SEN 2-0 (19:14, 20:14)
URU vs PUR 2-0 (20:18, 22:20)

13-16 Placement Round
COK vs KEN 0-2 (20:25, 12:14)

Women’s Competition

Semi-Finals
HUN vs GER 0-2 (20:24, 18:21)
NED vs ESP 0-2 (22:25, 14:24)

5-8 Placement Round
BRA vs URU 0-2 (14:20, 14:17)
CRO vs FRA 0-2 (22:27, 18:21)

9-12 Placement Round
THA vs CHN 1-2 (20:16, 20:22, SO 2:5)
TUN vs KEN 2-0 (24:10, 18:5)

13-16 Placement Round
MEX vs SEN 0-2 (12:19, 6:10)

With thanks to Lynda Ben Amara, Meriem Zroud and Noe Calman for the player quotes.