This decade has been the golden one for Portuguese handball, with the men’s national team making their debut at the Olympic Games – at Tokyo 2020 – while also securing their best-ever finish at the IHF Men’s World Championship, when they finished fourth one year ago.

Step by step, under the guidance of head coach Paulo Pereira, Portugal have discovered new players, refined their system, made marginal gains, until they were transformed from an unknown quantity, to an underdog and now a podium challenger.

Seeing Portugal improve has been a treat, as their no-nonsense, fast-paced, spectacular brand of handball provided some fantastic matches. But nothing has been more spectacular to see the two Costa brothers shine on the biggest stages.

Three years ago, they were still in the younger age categories, lightning up the scoreboards. Sooner rather than later, left back Martim and right back Francisco were slotted into the senior team and they looked perfectly in control and ready to become leaders in a team which was already brimming with potential.

While Francisco – Kiko – was named the Best Young Player Presented by LIDL at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, his older brother, Martim, is one of Portugal’s most consistent scorers. At the EHF EURO 2024, he was the joint top scorer alongside Mathias Gidsel, with 54 goals, and the All-Star left back.

At the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, he scored 44 goals, finishing ninth in the top goal scorer standings, and was named as the All-Star centre back, after also making the All-Star team at the 2019 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship.

 

“Since I was little, my dream was to play handball. I did not ever think I would go so far, to be fair. It could not have been different, because both my parents were handball players and my father is coaching me at Sporting, at club level. But after a few years, I understood that I have a talent for this, that I might be a very good player. So I continued to work hard,” says Costa.

Playing and developing within a controlled and supportive environment – with his father Ricardo serving as his coach throughout his entire career – has enabled Costa to mature and progress in a balanced and healthy manner.

And this progress was to be seen immediately. First, when he made his debut for FC Porto in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, in the 2020/21 season, he scored five goals. After moving to Sporting, his tally increased dramatically: 50 goals in the 2021/22 season of the European League, followed by 104 and 62 goal-seasons in the second-tier European competition.

Since then, he impressed in the 2024/25 season of the Champions League with 105 goals and nearly halfway this season in the European premium competition he scored 49 goals.

And for Portugal, he has already surpassed 30 matches, with over 100 goals, making him a lock for the starting position in the back line.

“Playing for Portugal is amazing, is something incredible. And the most important thing is that we are like a family, we always care for each other, we have an incredible group of players. We are hungry for more. We also had some great performances in the past years and made handball even more popular in the country, which is something incredibly important to keep everything going,” adds the 23-year-old left back.

Indeed, Portugal were undoubtedly the surprise package at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship last January, as they went undefeated until the semi-finals, before conceding a loss against Denmark and then a last-gasp loss against France in the bronze medal match, where they could have pushed the encounter into extra-time were it not for a last-second miss.

It also made handball known, extending the visibility into Portugal, as the last two matches were broadcasted on RTP 1, the main channel of the national Portugal television, rather than RTP2, as the previous ones.

This was the moment when Portugal really put themselves on the map, especially thanks to their wins against Norway, Spain and Germany, proving that they can match up even with the best opponents in the world.

But this also came with some more responsabilities for the main pillars of the team, such as Costa, as the spotlight was now on them and opponents were paying ever more attention to them.

“It is always nice to play handball, it is always nice to be on the court in these moments. And we are happy that we are making handball more and more popular in Portugal. We can say we are role models, therefore we need to pay attention and take this role more and more important and inspire the children to start playing and to love this sport too,” says Costa.

The next step for Portugal will be the EHF EURO 2026, where the “Herois do Mar” will look for a medal in the competition which starts on 15 January in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It is Portugal’s ninth apperance in the premium continental tournament and their best finish was the sixth place which kickstarted everything back in 2020.

For another shot at a podium, they will face an absolutely fiery challenge. They have been drawn in Group B of the preliminary round, alongside Denmark, North Macedonia and Romania. Provided they qualify in the main round, their rivals could be Norway, France and two of Germany, Spain, Austria and Serbia.

 

The top half of the draw looks absolutely stacked and Portugal will be wary of any missteps, were this generation to compete once again for medals. But for Costa, a challenge is always welcome, especially with a hungry team like Portugal, which have never won a medal at a major international competition.

Portugal also have launched a new shirt from 2026 onwards, forging the national spirit with a blue pattern inspired from the Azuleo – the traditional painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework.

Basically, for Costa and for Portugal the time is now.

“We know we will have tough opponents, but we will do our best to improve on our performances, no matter the opposition,” concludes Costa.