Copa Argentina sees La Costa women and Sol de Mayor crowned senior champions on the South American sand

The sixth edition of the Confederación Argentina de Handball (CAH) ‘Copa Argentina’ Beach Handball tournament concluded last weekend (20-23 February) with four tournaments featuring 31 teams from eight Argentinean provinces taking place in San Juan.

Teams taking part in the Copa Argentina had qualified due to their performances on the Argentina Beach Handball Circuit (Circuito Argentino de Beach Handball).

The first edition of the Copa Argentina was held back in 2020 and since then, it has gone on to become a mainstay in not only the Argentina or South America Beach Handball calendar, but the global one.

The senior women’s competition in San Juan featured six teams, but did not include ‘IFES’, who had won all previous editions of the Copa Argentina. This paved the way for a new champion and it was the Municipality of La Costa who claimed their first title after beating Deportivo Mitre via shoot-out 2-1 (16:22, 19:14, SO 7:4). The Municipality of Quilmes took bronze, defeating ABC Centenario 2-0 (23:16, 14:15).

The men’s senior competition had no such surprises, as the Río Negro-based ‘Sol de Mayo’ took their fourth gold in a row, defeating Only Beach 2-0 (16:14, 14:12) in the gold medal match. The champions won six of their seven games 2-0, losing just once, to IFES (0-2) in the group stages. IFES did get on the podium though, defeating Los Buitres 2-0 (22:14, 20:18) for bronze.

Quilmes also won the youth women’s competition, debuting this year. They beat IFES Rio Grande in the final, with the Municipality of Alta Gracia taking bronze. In the male youth category, featuring for the second time, it was Sol de Mayo again taking gold, as they defeated 2024 winners IFES via shoot-out, after Quilmes had taken bronze.

A number of Argentina national team players competed on the sand in San Juan, including Alma Molina (Deportivo Mitre) and Micaela Corimberto (Municipality of La Costa) from the 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship silver medal-winning side, in addition to eight of the men’s squad who reached the quarter-finals last year in China. 

Joining them on the sand were 2016 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship winner with Spain, Asunción Batista (Municipality of La Costa), plus Brazil men’s goalkeeper Cristiano Seben (IFES), champion of the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games and 2024 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour. Fellow Brazil international Jair Nazario (IFES) plus the Uruguayan international trio of Joaquín Urbina Falero (Los Buitres), Piero Franchello López (Los Buitres) and Rodrigo Pérez Valdez (Sol de Mayo) were also in Argentina.

The top three sides in each senior competition have now qualified through to the SCACH Beach Handball Club Championships which are set to be played in Iquique, Chile across the last week of April.

The four finals from 2025 were broadcast live on DeporTV, with the whole event going out live on the CAH YouTube channel, where games can be watched again.

Copa Argentina 2025: medal positions

Men’s – Senior
1 Sol de Mayo (Rio Negro)
2 Only Beach (Río Negro)
3 IFES (Neuquén)

Women’s – Senior
1 Municipality of La Costa (Buenos Aires)
2 Deportivo Mitre (Río Negro)
3 Municipality of Quilmes (Buenos Aires)

Men’s – Youth
1 Sol de Mayo (Río Negro)
2 IFES (Neuquén)
3 Municipality of Quilmes (Buenos Aires)

Women’s – Youth
1 Municipality of Quilmes (Buenos Aires)
2 IFES (Neuquén)
3 Municipality of Alta Gracia (Cordoba)

Copa Argentina – previous winners

Year     Women                         Men
2020     IFES                             IFES
2021     IFES                             IFES
2022     IFES                             Rio Negro
2023     IFES                             Sol de Mayo
2024     IFES                             Sol de Mayo
2025    Municipalidad de la Costa    Sol de Mayo

Copa Argentina 2025: Participating teams

Men’s – Senior
Los Buitres (Buenos Aires)
Alianza San Juan (Rio Negro)
Sol de Mayo (Rio Negro)
IFES (Neuquén)
Only Beach (Río Negro)
University of San Juan (Rosario)
Union Argentina (Rosario)
Onkel (Rosario)
CIOS (Neuquén)
Municipality of Alta Gracia (Córdoba)

Women’s – Senior
Municipality of La Costa (Buenos Aires)
ABC Centenario (Neuquén)
University of San Juan (Rio Negro)
Deportivo Mitre (Río Negro)
Chimbas San Juan (Buenos Aires)
Municipality of Quilmes (Buenos Aires)

Men’s – Youth
ABC Centenario (Neuquén)
Sol de Mayo (Río Negro)
Municipality of Alta Gracia (Córdoba)
IFES (Neuquén)
ETIEC (Mendoza)
Only Beach (Río Negro)
Municipality of Quilmes (Buenos Aires)
Albatros Beach (Tierra del Fuego)
Alianza San Juan (San Juan)

Women’s – Youth
Municipality of Alta Gracia (Cordoba)
Generation Youth North (San Juan)
Municipality of Quilmes (Buenos Aires)
ETIEC (Mendoza)
IFES (Neuquén)
Albatros Beach (Tierra del Fuego)

Credit photo: Handball Argentina