Brazil’s women return to Doha for the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour (BHGT): Finals as title-holders, having won the debut edition of the season-ending event in 2023.

The South American side are the only team returning to finals action from the 2023 quartet, which also featured Poland, Tunisia and People’s Republic of China.

Brazil are joined in Doha this week by IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship title-holders Germany, stage two BHGT winners Spain, plus Portugal, who qualified as a replacement nation for Qatar.

Vinicius Carlos de Oliveira’s Brazil are undergoing a generational change with Ingrid Frazao (108 national team appearances) and Beatriz Cruz (49), plus relative newcomer Marian Hanthequeste the only three players remaining from a disappointing eighth spot at the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in China – their lowest-ever ranking in 10 attempts.

High profile names such as Nathalie Sena – who retired after China 2024 – along with Cinthya Piquet, Renata Santiago and Patricia Scheppa are all missing and it will be interesting to see what the Brazilians – with Frazao’s club teammate Camila Negocio Queiroga set to make her national team debut – can do.

They will face a much-changed German side who won world championship gold in June. Alexander Novakovic’s side will be missing Lucie Marie Kretzschmar, Belen Gettwart and Katharina Filter due to their in-season indoor team commitments, plus the injured trio of Lena Klinger, Paula Reips and Carolin Hubner.

“We had some problems to get the best squad list together as some of our experienced players – especially in defence – we will miss. We are not with our world championship-winning team in Doha, but we will have a really competitive one and are looking forward to facing all these really good teams,” said Germany Head Coach Novakovic to ihf.info.

“At the 2022 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship I really remember the final against Spain – an amazing fight between two equal teams, with only the little things deciding the game for us (Germany won 2-0, 15:14, 22:20). We also played Portugal, in the quarter-finals, and the second set was where we scored something like our record fewest points (Germany won 2-0, 20:12, 10:8).

“The IHF Beach Handball Global Tour Finals has only the really good, best and toughest teams. We are proud to be in the group with these brilliant teams and it’s an honour to qualify as world champions again.

“Next year will see The World Games as our highlight, but we also have a European Championship, probably the Beach Handball Global Tour, plus a friendly tournament appearance. So, four competitions but less training in what will be a new challenge – it will be a really amazing year and the next emotional rollercoaster.”

Portugal, like Germany (who qualified in 2023 but were unable to compete) and Spain will make their debut in the Finals stage, and with it, will have appeared at all three stages of the 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour – facing all three Qatar 2024 opponents.

They finished fourth at stage 1 in Brazil which saw them go up against Qatar 2024 opponents Brazil twice. They lost both encounters, in the preliminary round 1-2 (25:24, 10:19, SO 4:7) and in the semi-final 0-2 (12:24, 18:26).

Stage 2 in Spain saw an improved second-place finish for the Portuguese which included wins against both Spain (2-0, 20:18, 14:12) and Germany (2-1, 16:18, 20:14, SO 7:2) in the preliminary round, before a final loss against the hosts (2-0, 20:18, 24:14).

“This will be a competition where we will have another opportunity to face the best teams in the world. The tough and demanding matches we will have against Germany, Spain and Brazil will make us continue to grow,” said Portugal’s coach Agustin Collado Rodriguez to portal.fpa.pt.

“We will enjoy a unique competition and fight for a new medal, which is certainly the main objective. We are going to Qatar with a team where we mix youth and experience, with a predominance of youth and the talent that is already the future of this team. We hope to be able to finish 2024 in style by playing a great role in Qatar and return with a medal that reinforces the work done.”

Collado Rodriguez has named four players from Portugal’s sixth-placed world championship team for Qatar (Sofia Goncalves, Catarina Oliveira, Catarina Teixeira, Diana Roque), with a trio set to make their national team debuts: Andreia Costa, Joana Delgado and Maria Marques.

“The level of our rivals is very high, but we have to focus on ourselves to be competitive. I am sure that will be the case and we will fight to be in the final and win it. We have to reach that level of play that makes us perform at our best,” said Spain coach Juan Pablo Morillo to rfebm.com.

“Brazil is a world power, although it is renewing its squad and has many specialists in the modality; Portugal is a team that always has a very high competitive level and that we know very well from having faced each other recently; and Germany, which is the favourite because it is the current world and European champion is the rival to beat.”

For further information and the competition schedule, click HERE.

About the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour
The IHF Beach Handball Global Tour was launched at the 2022 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Greece and debuted in Gdansk, Poland with Croatia winning the men’s tournament and Spain taking the top spot in the women’s tournament.

The 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour visited Brazil, Tunisia and Poland before the Finals Stage was held in Doha, Qatar in November, with Qatar’s men and Brazil’s women taking the overall titles.

The 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour commenced in May with Stage 1 in Maricá, Brazil. The host nation won both the men’s and women’s competitions. Stage 2 took place in Cádiz, Spain, with the host nation winning the women’s tournament and the men’s tournament won by Germany.

Credit Photo: RFEBM / J.L. Recio