The trophy room of the Croatian Handball Federation (HRS) in Zagreb, Croatia, was the setting on Saturday for the group draws of the 12th IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships.

Featuring 16 men’s and 16 women’s team, the two global events will be played side-by-side on the edges of Jarun Lake, Zagreb, Croatia from 23 to 28 June 2026.

The draw was conducted by Hristo Boskoski, IHF office member responsible for Beach Handball with Nika Vojnovic, captain of the Croatian women’s national team and Mladen Paradžik, head coach of the Croatian men’s national team also in attendance.

As organisers, Croatia (CRO) had the right to choose the groups in which they competed. This applied to both the men’s and women’s competitions.

 

Six continents ready to fight for global glory

Women’s title-holders Germany were drawn into group A where they will face Uruguay, neighbours Netherlands and Asian and Asian Beach Games champions, Vietnam. Runners-up from the 2024 IHF Women’s World Championship and winners of The World Games 2025, Argentina, are in group D alongside Denmark, Philippines and debutants Benin.

Fellow first-timers Cook Islands were drawn against Puerto Rico, 2008 champions and hosts Croatia and 2016 gold medallists, Spain. But group C is one stacked with former world champions, as Brazil, Norway and Greece – complete with five world championships between them – will do battle, joined by recent North America and the Caribbean champions, USA.

Two groups feature regional derbies, with Portugal and Spain doing battle in group A and Argentina and Brazil facing off in group C. Debutants Italy join the South Americans in group C, while fellow first-timers France were drawn alongside Croatia, Australia and Oman.

The draw event started with the women’s competition draw and saw Uruguay come out of the pot first. A further 11 teams were drawn before a short pause for hosts Croatia to choose their group. The home nation chose Group B. A further three teams were then drawn, ending with Denmark.

“The best emotion you can have is when you hear your national anthem before a game, and especially when you play in your home in Zagreb, so I am really looking forward to playing in Zagreb and I hope there will be as many people as there can be,” said women's captain Vojnovic after the draw.

“As for the teams we will face, Spain plays a very quick game with, a lot of running, so that's something we can manage to play against, because we are a bit steadier – that game can go both ways.

“Then we have Cook Islands who are in their first competition so we don’t know too much about them, but it's always good to play against somebody that you don't know. We like it because we don't know them, so we have to do the things in the game, not before the game and that's good for our team. For Puerto Rico we will watch the videos of them and prepare for the match.

“Anyone thinking of coming to Zagreb can expect calm people, a lot of coffee, and an easy vacation,” added the Croatian captain about fans thinking of coming to the event. “Jarun is a beautiful lake and they can always look for some adventures, not only in Zagreb, but in Slavonia, Dalmatia, which is the best sea ever.”

The men’s competition saw the USA come out first and after another break for the hosts to decide their group, they chose group D. Germany were last out of the pot and the draw was concluded.

“There a lot of good quality, top-level teams present in this competition,” said Paradžik to ihf.info after the draw.

“We played against France at the European Championships in Turkey last year and they have become a strong team in the last four or five years. Oman have a different style of the playing, but we haven’t played against them recently. And for Australia, in the 2016 world championship we lost one set against them so if you go easy against them, you will not win that game. 

“Our main goal for this championship is that more and more people find out about beach handball, but of course, we want to win,” he added. “Zagreb during the summer is a really nice city and anyone visiting will enjoy coming here, for sure.”

For further information on how teams qualified, click HERE. or to watch the draw again, click HERE.

The draws were made as follows:

2026 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship
Group A: Germany, Netherlands, Vietnam, Uruguay
Group B: Spain, Croatia, Cook Islands, Puerto Rico
Group C: Norway, Greece, Brazil, United States of America
Group D: Argentina, Denmark, Philippines, Benin

2026 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship
Group A: Spain, Portugal, Islamic Republic of Iran, United States of America
Group B: Hungary, Denmark, Tunisia, Puerto Rico
Group C: Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy
Group D: Croatia, France, Oman, Australia
 
The IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships made their debut in 2004 in Egypt, with 32 national teams set to travel from across the world to compete for global glory in Asia.

2026 IHF Men's and Women's Beach Handball World Championships

Competition Format
The men’s and women’s competitions feature 16 teams each, initially divided into four preliminary round groups of four teams each.

The top three teams in each group (12 in total) move through to two main round groups of six teams each, with the top four in each then moving through to the quarter-finals and subsequent semi-finals, bronze medal, placement and final matches.

The bottom team in each of the four preliminary groups will move into the consolation round.

Match schedule
The match schedule and throw-off times will be decided and communicated in due course via IHF.info. Please note – the IHF reserves the right to change the throw-off times and other details of the match schedule at any time within the principles of the ‘Regulations for IHF Competitions’.

Playing squads
All teams have to provide a provisional list of a maximum of 20 players by 10 May 2026. All players must be eligible to play and be a minimum of 16 years old (born by, or earlier than, 2010).