The second stage of the 2026 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour (BHGT) will take place this weekend – Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June – in Plock, Poland.

It will mark the third time that the Polish city has featured on a Tour stage after hosting the very first stage, Stage 1 in 2022 and Stage 3 the following year (2023).

Fighting it out in 2026 will be the men’s and women’s national teams of Germany and the home nation, Poland, plus four debutants: the women’s national team of France, men’s national team of North Macedonia and men’s and women’s national teams of Czechia.

Germany the team to beat

Both Germany sides go into the Stage 2 as strong favourites. Germany’s men are the current European Championship and The World Games men’s title-holders (2025) while Germany’s women are current IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship title-holders (2024).

The two German teams will use Plock as a final, competitive warm-up for the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championship which take place in Zagreb, Croatia at the end of June.

“We know the French team inside and out, having already played against them several times this year – and not winning all of them, which should be warning enough. They have definitely become stronger and will challenge us to start with a strong performance,” said Germany women’s national coach Alexander Novakovic to handball.net. 

“Poland are a very strong team and we will also need a very good performance to be successful. Czechia are a relatively new opponent for us, against whom I hope and expect we won't have any problems. Given the depth of our squad, this will give us the opportunity to offer as much playing time as possible. That's particularly valuable for the young talents.”

For Germany men's coach Marten Franke, his team will be facing two familiar and one unfamiliar opponent.

"We had an intense match against Poland in the main round of the European Championship last year, and playing them in the market square in front of over 1,000 spectators will be anything but easy," he said.

"North Macedonia are the absolute newcomers in my eyes, and we are very curious to see what awaits us [while] we played Czechia in our opening match at the last European Championship and won quite convincingly. They have a very young team with players from their youth academy who are now increasingly establishing themselves in the senior ranks."

Experienced hosts looking to put on a show in the Old Market Square

Poland’s teams are some of the most experienced on the BHGT with their women’s team appearing at the most stages (7) when they step out onto the Plock sand, following appearances at 2022 S1, 2023 S3, 2023 S4 Finals, 2025 S2, 2025 S3 Finals and S1 of the tour this year.

Overall, the Polish women have played 23 games on the BHGT, winning 10 and losing 13. Their highest-ranking on the tour has been a runners-up spot three times: at the Finals Stage in 2023, Stage 2 in 2025, and Stage 1 in Croatia last month.

For the Polish men, Plock will mark their fifth appearance on the tour with Zagreb last month also their highest ranking (2nd). In total, they have played 18 times on the Tour, winning six and losing 12.

The Polish women have played Germany twice on the Tour, losing 2-0 both times. On Stage 1 in 2022 (2-0, 18:16, 17:16) and on Stage 3 in 2023 (14:6, 30:6). The men have faced Germany once, losing via shoot-out on Stage 1 in 2022, 2-1 (19:14, 18, 20, SO 10:4).

First-timers looking to fine-tune and gain experience

Debutants North Macedonia have been training in Ohrid under new coach Naum Babachev, with the European federation wishing ‘…the coach, coaching staff and the national team players successful preparations and significant results in the upcoming matches,’ in a tournament which they say ‘…represents another opportunity for our national team to gain significant international experience and promote their beach handball on the European stage’.

Like their Czech counterparts, the French women are using Plock as an important preparation for the upcoming Women’s EHF Beach Handball Championship next month in Zagreb, which acts as a qualification event for next year’s EHF EURO. 

“It's a great opportunity to participate in this tournament under the conditions of a real competition,” said France coach Marion Limal to FFHandball.fr.

“Beyond the Germans, I know the Polish team is also progressing, and we'll be able to gauge our level. We added this tournament to the year's schedule last April. Some players had already planned their holidays while the younger ones are taking their baccalaureate exams. We were therefore forced to reshuffle the team, especially our defence, and pair Anouck Clément with Mathilde Amelot, who hasn't played in a long time.”

Poland and Czechia men are also competing in Zagreb next month for a place at the 2027 EHF EURO.

Tour Finals the goal

The winners of both men’s and women’s competitions in Plock will qualify through to the BHGT Finals stage later this year just like Portugal’s women and Croatia’s men did in Zagreb last month at Stage 1.

Brazil are the current IHF Beach Handball Global Tour title-holders, having won both the men’s and women’s gold medals in the Finals Stage last year.

All matches from Plock will be streamed live on the IHF Competitions YouTube channel. 

2026 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour: Stage 2

Women’s competition: Poland, Germany, Czechia, France
Men’s competition: Poland, Germany, Czechia, North Macedonia

Match Schedule
(all times local)

Saturday 13 June – Day 1

Preliminary round

Men’s competition
1030 North Macedonia v Czechia
1230 Poland v Germany
1730 Germany v North Macedonia
1930 Czechia v Poland

Women’s competition
0930 Germany v France
1130 Poland v Germany
1630 Czechia v France
1830 Poland v Germany

Sunday 14 June – Day 2

Preliminary round

Men’s competition
1100 Poland v North Macedonia
1200 Germany v Czechia

Women’s competition
0900 Germany v Czechia
1000 France v Poland

Finals

Men’s competition
1600 Bronze medal match
1800 Final

Women’s competition
1500 Bronze medal match
1700 Final

Photo credit: EHF / Kolektiff