Spain made it a double celebration as their men’s and women’s teams won gold at the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in Hammamet, Tunisia, beating Germany in both games, 2-0. Brazil’s men and Netherlands’ women won bronze in their respective competitions.

The early session saw a number of placement matches take place, with historic finishes for teams around the world, from all six IHF continents.

Upon the conclusion of the men’s final, the Tunisia 2025 All-star Teams were also announced.

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

Title-holders Spain do the business again in women’s competition

Spain’s women defended their world championship title, winning the 2025 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship by seeing off Germany 2-0. The first set was one-sided, with Spain taking a nine-point, 31:22 victory, Germany coming back strong in the second, but losing by just one point.

The result was an improvement on the 5/6 placement match at the YAC 16 EURO in Bulgaria last year where Spain had beaten Germany 8:6 in the shoot-out.

The bronze medal saw two-time silver medallists Netherlands add to their medal collection and continue their run of podium spots in the youth world championship since it started, easing to a strong 2-0 (22:16, 17:12) victory over Hungary.

After tasting defeat for the first time against Germany in their semi-final on Saturday (22 June), Netherlands bounced back to hand Hungary their second, consecutive fourth-place finish in the competition.

In the placement matches, surprise package Uruguay finished fifth, beating France via shoot-out, 5:4. The European side missed three shots with Julietta Villar Lago’s single point taking the victory and smashing their previous best ranking in the competition of 13th.

Croatia recorded their best-ever finish thanks to 24 points from Helena Furcic, who finished second in the tournament top-scoring rankings. Croatia beat their ninth placed finish in 2017, while Brazil equalled their 2022 position. Tunisia finished in 10th on their debut after losing to China, while fellow African side finished 12th on their debut after losing to Thailand. 

Senegal, hosts of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, ended in 14th after a loss to Bulgaria, but an impressive 28 points from Maman Coumba Diop will long be remembered in the match-up between the two debutants.

Following the footsteps of their women, Spain’s men defeat Germany for second title

They say defence wins championships and so that proved in the men’s final, with Spain restricting the free-scoring Germany to just eight first set points and 20 overall in their 2-0 win.

The match had been about the top-scorers at Tunisia 2025 against the top defence, but Spain showed their strength at the back to take their second world title after winning the debut edition in 2017, in Mauritius. Spain had beaten Germany 2-0 at the EURO last year in the semi-final.

In an epic bronze medal shoot-out, Brazil became the sole non-European medallists in Tunisia, with an incredible 28 points from Newton Perdiz helping his side to a 2-1 (24:18, 18:20, SO 14:12) victory after the shoot-out went to a second round of shots – Perdiz’s points-haul also pushed him to the top-scorer of the competition.

The bronze for Brazil added to their silver, gained last time out at 2022 in Greece, when the South American side made their debut.

In the placement matches, host nation and debutants Tunisia finished inside the top five with All-star Team member Mechergui Seif Eddine scoring 16 points in their 2-0 win over Thailand for 5/6 place which was also Thailand’s best-ever ranking.

Fellow debutants Oman finished eighth after losing to Argentina, while 2022 title-holders Croatia – only added to the competition as late replacements – finished in 10th after losing to Uruguay, who bettered their 14th place gained at Greece 2022.

Puerto Rico finished 11th after taking down Senegal, while Mexico finished in 13th, beating Kenya 2-0, all four teams were making their debut on the world stage.

Sunday 22 June – Results

Men’s Competition
Final/Gold Medal Match: GER vs ESP 0-2 (8:16, 12:15)
Bronze Medal Match: HUN vs BRA 1-2 (18:24, 20:18, SO 12:14)
5/6 Placement Match: TUN vs THA 2-0 (18:16, 22:12)
7/8 Placement Match: ARG vs OMA 2-0 (22:12, 24:14)
9/10 Placement Match: CRO vs URU 0-2 (16:19, 18:22)
11/12 Placement Match: SEN vs PUR 0-2 (12:18, 8:14) 
13/14 Placement Match: MEX vs KEN 2-0 (17:16, 27:18)
15/16 Placement Match: was not played due to the withdrawal of Iran, Cook Islands place 15th*

Women’s Competition
Final/Gold Medal Match: ESP vs GER 2-0 (31:22, 19:18)
Bronze Medal Match: NED vs HUN 2-0 (22:16, 17:12)
5/6 Placement Match: FRA v URU 1-2 (22:25, 15:14, SO 4:5)
7/8 Placement Match: CRO vs BRA 2-0 (20:14, 27:22)
9/10 Placement Match: CHN vs TUN 2-0 (20:13, 28:22)
11/12 Placement Match: THA vs KEN 2-0 (13:12, 20:14)
13/14 Placement Match: BUL vs SEN 2-0 (19:18, 24:21)
15/16 Placement Match: will not be played due to the withdrawal of Tanzania, Mexico place 15th*

Final Rankings

Men’s Competition
1 Spain
2 Germany
3 Brazil
4 Hungary
5 Tunisia
6 Thailand
7 Argentina
8 Oman 
9 Uruguay
10 Croatia
11 Puerto Rico
12 Senegal
13 Mexico
14 Kenya
15 Cook Islands*
16 Islamic Republic of Iran*

Women’s Competition
1 Spain
2 Germany
3 Netherlands
4 Hungary
5 Uruguay
6 France
7 Croatia
8 Brazil
9 People’s Republic of China
10 Tunisia
11 Thailand
12 Kenya
13 Bulgaria
14 Senegal
15 Mexico*
16 Tanzania*

*See HERE.