After a 20-year break, Spain’s men look to podium again

Spain’s men have an impressive record at The World Games in their two appearances so far, earning two silver medals, in 2001 and 2005.

Fast-forward 20 years to 2025 and Spain sealed their qualification after Qatar did not take up their initial, allocated place. Spain’s fifth place finish at the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship on Chinese sand in Pingtan was enough to give them the next qualification spot available.

Nicknamed ‘The Hispanos de la Arena’, the Spanish men are on a roll in 2025 with three competitions played so far and three medals gained.

After winning silver on stage one of the 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour in Tunisia in May, they followed it up with another silver at the 2025 EHF Men’s European Beach Handball Championships in Turkiye in July. The run of medals was then ended with a gold, gained on home sand at stage two of the BHGT in Laredo a few weeks later.

Spain’s group at Chengdu 2025 features host nation China, alongside Tunisia and Denmark – the Danes beaten by Spain in their EURO quarter-finals clash in Turkiye in July, 2-1 (21:20, 24:26, SO 10:8). 

As well as Denmark, Spain have also played Tunisia this year already too, defeating them 2-0 (22:16, 21:17) on stage one of the BHGT, where they lost to possible Chengdu 2025 opponents Croatia twice via shoot-out, including the final.

On the second stage of the BHGT at the end of July, Spain faced another possible Chengdu 2025 opponent twice, losing via shoot-out against Portugal in the preliminary stage before reversing the result in the final, to take a 2-0 (24:22, 27:22) victory. The EURO also saw another potential Chengdu opponent as Spain faced Germany in the final, but lost via shoot-out, 1-2 (22:18, 19:23, SO 10:12).

Last year, Spain’s fifth place at the world championship equalled their second best-ever ranking (after bronze in 2006). The ranking was secured after they beat another possible Chengdu 2025 opponent, Brazil 2-1 in the 5-6 placement match – after losing to the South Americans in the group stage via shoot-out.

In fact, Spain faced all three of their Chengdu 2025 preliminary group teams in the global event last year with China and Tunisia both beaten 2-0 each in the preliminary group, and the Danes defeating them 2-0 in the main round, ahead of the Spaniards losing 2-1 to Germany in the quarter-finals. Key player Gonzalo Cervera impressed in Pingtan, finishing fifth in the top-scorers list (129 points) and being nominated into the All-star Team as best left wing.

“The level of demand is higher now, because after achieving a good result at the European Championship, expectations are quite high. But competitions start how they start, and you have to take it one game at a time,” said captain Adria Ortola ahead of the Games.

“In tournaments like this, any opponent in beach handball today is tough, so the approach has to be to prepare for each match, try to win each one, and from there, aim to reach the quarter-finals in the best possible condition,” added Ortola, who is also a surfer. “But the goals are clear: once we see that we’re winning medals or playing strong matches and gaining good momentum, the objective is to maintain that level - or even raise it.”

While the Spanish squad may be dominated by Andalusians – eight out of the squad of 10 are from there – there is a mix of experience with seven of that squad under 25 years old, all leading to a strong bond within the team, further enforced by the ‘La Morocha’ song that everyone sings and dances to before matches and after big victories.

“The level is very high in the men’s competition; the battle to reach the medals comes at a high cost so our goal is to try to make it to the semi-finals and, from there, give our very best,” said Spain head coach Juan Antonio Vazquez.

“But, first of all, I’m very happy with our result at the European Championship. It’s the result of good work done during the preparation phase. That in itself serves as motivation to face this new competition with maximum responsibility, but also with the excitement of trying to repeat those good results.

“The truth is that we didn’t get the best possible draw; China and Tunisia don’t have the level of some of the European teams, so the quarter-final matchup is expected to be very dangerous,” he added.

“Our goal is to finish as high as possible in the group stage in order to have an easier quarter-final, ideally finishing first to face the fourth-place team. We’ll try to reach the semi-finals but I believe that in the men’s category there is a lot of parity, and the main objective is always to qualify for the quarter-final in the best possible condition to win it.

“Once you're in that quarter-final, the goal is to fight for the medals. That’s always the key: win the quarter-final, make it to the semi-finals, and from there, anything else that comes is always welcome.”

Coach: Juan Antonio Vazquez
Key players: Gonzalo Cervera (Left Wing), Adria Ortola (Pivot)
Qualification information: 5th – 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship (Replaced Qatar)
History in tournament: 2001: 2nd, 2005: 2nd, 2009-2022: DNQ
Group at The World Games Chengdu 2025: Group B – Tunisia, Spain, Denmark, People’s Republic of China