The first of three matchdays of the 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Finals in João Pessoa, Brazil has completed with eight national teams in action across four games.

The World Games women’s champions Argentina impress in northeast Brazil

After winning gold at The World Games in China last August, Leticia Brunati’s Argentina side returned to competitive action after that 7:2 shoot-out win against Germany in Asia.

And they returned impressively, downing Spain 2-0 (15:10, 25:24) – the same side they had beaten 6-4 via shoot-out in their The World Games semi-final a few months ago.

With just three minutes gone in the first set, Argentina had steamed forward to an 8:2 lead – four unanswered goals putting the South American side in pole position with a late Spain timeout not able to bring the score level. 

Spain featured a number of 2022 IHF Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championship winners in their side, including Malena Díaz, Cayetana Martín and María Trujillo, plus 17-year-old Carlota Bravo – making her senior debut after winning the 2025 IHF Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championship earlier this year.

The second set saw Juan Pablo Morillo's team lead by two for the majority of the time, Argentina going ahead for the first in the 17th minute before finding themselves down by two (22:24) with just seconds remaining. A Belen Aizen strike  - who ended as top-scorer on 12 points – prevented the shoot-out and Camila Arcajo’s golden goal ensued the win.

“The key to the win was our solidity,” said Brunati to ihf.info. “When the attack was wrong, our defence was great, and when the defence was wrong, our attack was really good. We were focused. The girls did a really good match – we have a lot of new girls in the team and they did wonderful.”

That team ethic was backed-up by Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Gisella Bonomi, now the most experienced player in the squad after the additions of debutant goalkeeper Valentina Riondini (18 years old) and specialist Villafañe Jazmin (20).

“We really played as a team,” she said to ihf.info. “In the first half, our defence carried the offence and in the second half, the offence carried the defence. This is exactly what we train for. I’m really happy that our team energy stayed high the whole time.

“We’re always training to evolve our game and keep creating. We hope to bring even more of that into the next matches, strengthening our composure in decisive moments so we can set the rhythm and make the game ours.”

Hosts Brazil, looking for their third, straight Finals title after taking the 2023 and 2024 editions, eased to a 2-0 (14:8, 22:12) victory over Poland, Mariane Hanthequeste and Beatriz Cruz top-scoring for a mixed South American side of experience and youth, with 10 points each.

Argentina upset men’s world champions as hosts shocked

2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship winners Croatia were overturned by Argentina in the first match of the men’s tournament, the South American side taking an impressive golden goal first set win and finishing off the game with a clear victory in the second period (2-0, 13:12, 20:14).

Ahead of the competition, Argentina coach Sebastián Ferraro had told ihf.info it would be a “privilege” to play against the team in Brazil, but despite the quality of opponents, it did not phase his side, who played a much-changed Croatia.

Just three players – Stipe Malenicic, Valentino Valentakovic and Josip Dukes – from that world championship-winning squad were named by coach Mladen Paradzik in his Croatian side, with Malenicic and Valentakovic, plus Gabriel Botic, Fran Cvjeticanin and Domagoj Kulis in the squad from The World Games last August.

And it did not start well with the Croatians, finding themselves 8:0 down and not scoring until the sixth minute in the first set. However, indicative of the Croatian fighting spirit, Kulis brought the scores level in the 10th minute (12:12) and in possession with just seven seconds left Kulis shot wide. And, after the Croatians failed to regroup for defence, the quick-thinking Jorge Nahuel Perez Baptista grabbed the ball and slotted home with a indoor-style flicked-wrist shot for the victory

The second set was a clearer affair as the continental home side secured an important victory on their journey towards breaking into the world top five.

“Argentina played very smart and we missed too many opportunities from our shot creation – our attack was not on the best level this time,” said Paradzik to ihf.info. “Congratulations to Argentina, they were better this time.”

Reigning 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour champions were defeated by Spain in the late game in front of an estimated 1,000 spectators. After a one-sided first set, easily won 26:14 by the hosts, who were 16:4 ahead after just five minutes, thanks to 10 points from Renan Pinheiro Carvalho, Spain powered back in the second, overturning a 19:16 deficit in the last three minutes to take it to a dramatic shoot-out (22:19).

The shoot-out started with Carvalho’s shot hitting the Spanish post, putting the Europeans in control, but Mario Miranda Sirvent’s shot (Spain’s second) was then saved by Cristiano Seben Rossa, who pushed it onto the bar and then out of the goal, it put the game all-even again.

As usual, Bruno Carlos de Oliveira took Brazil’s fifth, but saw it saved by Miguel Santamaria Perujo and at 6:6, his teammate Pablo Martin Ruiz only needed a single point for the victory, which he gleefully delivered.

Packed day two will see mix of emotions on the grand stage

All eight teams will play twice on Saturday as the preliminary group stage gets underway in Brazil. By the end of the day the two finalists in each competition will be known.

Some mouthwatering clashes are expected, ending with the double classic rivalry between Brazil and Argentina under the floodlights in Paraíba.

“Poland have an interesting team and I have watched a lot of videos about them,” said Argentina women’s coach Brunati about their two games, against Poland and Brazil on day two. “Their player number 11 (specialist Kinga Bogacka) is a very good player and we must now concentrated on that match, but, of course, Brazil is the ‘South American’ classic – they have the perfect mixture between experience and youth.”

For Croatia coach Paradzik, he knows that nothing less than wins against Brazil first and then Spain in the evening game will ensure a trip through to the final but recognises the importance of bringing through the next generation of players and giving them international experience ahead of his country hosting the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Zagreb next year.

“We will need to improve our game from the first day in order to be competitive against these teams, but as always, we will do our best against these top level teams,” said Paradzik to ihf.info.

“However, we have lot of new players for this competition as we want to broaden the number of young players that will contribute to the national selection in the near future. This is the best way to see them in action and learn some details about each of them; how they behave on the court in the big games.

“Almost the whole team is less-experienced, so this tournament is the perfect place to collect that experience for them.”

2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour – Stage 3: Finals
Date: 7 to 9 November
Location: João Pessoa, Brazil
Men's teams: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BRA), Croatia (CRO), Spain (ESP)
Women's teams: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BRA), Poland (POL), Spain (ESP)

Match results

Friday 7 November

Men’s competition
CRO vs ARG 0-2 (12:13, 14:20)
BRA vs ESP 1-2 (26:14, 19:22, SO 6:7)

Women’s competition
ARG vs ESP 2-0 (15:10, 25:24)
BRA vs POL 2-0 (14:8, 22:12)

Match Schedule

Saturday 8 November

Men’s competition
10:20    ESP vs ARG
12:00    CRO vs BRA
18:20    ESP vs CRO
20:00    ARG vs BRA

Women’s competition
09:30    POL vs ARG
11:10    BRA vs ESP
17:30    POL vs ESP
19:10    ARG vs BRA

Sunday 9 November

Men’s competition
16:30    3/4 Placement/Bronze-Medal Match
18:30    Final/Gold-Medal Match

Women’s competition
15:30    3/4 Placement/Bronze-Medal Match
17:30    Final/Gold-Medal Match

All games will be streamed live and free on the IHF YouTube Competitions channel HERE.

*All times local (Brazil) / Competition Management has the right to change the order and the time of the matches.

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

The 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour was held in Brazil, Spain and finals, again in Qatar, where Brazil won both the men’s and women’s events.

2025 represents the fourth edition of the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour. Stage 1 took place in Hammamet, Tunisia, and was won by Spain’s women and Croatia’s men in June. Stage 2 was played in Laredo, Spain in July, with the host nation winning both competitions. And the final stage – Stage 3 – will conclude the 2025 tour in João Pessoa, Brazil this November.

In a senior IHF Beach Handball World Championship or The World Games year, the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour Team consists of three stages, with non-event years reverting back to four stages. This year, The World Games took place in August, in the People’s Republic of China.