As the international Beach Handball season gets underway in 2024, a number of national federations have announced coaching updates.

Portugal, New Zealand, France and Australia are just some of the countries who have switched to new head coaches in recent months, while Germany have secured the services of one of the most successful coaches in recent history.

A new direction for Portugal

Agustín Collado Rodríguez has seen his role expand in Portugal with the announcement by the Portuguese Handball Federation (Federação de Andebol de Portugal) that he will assume the “Technical Coordination of the National Teams, as well as leadership of the Men's team on an interim basis”, in addition to his current role as women’s national team coach.

Collado, who was born in Granada, Spain, was announced as coach of the Portuguese women at the end of 2020 before taking charge in March 2021.

Success followed with fifth place at the 2021 European Championship, a debut IHF Women’s World Championship appearance at Greece 2022 which saw them finish eighth, bronze at the 2023 Mediterranean Games and an impressive fourth spot at the 2023 European Championship on home sand in Nazaré.

The 36-year-old replaces Paulo Félix in his two new, additional roles with one of his first major tests preparing the two senior teams for the 2024 IHF Men’s and Women’s World Championships in China in June.

“I am very happy to have this opportunity to take a step forward,” said Collado to portal.fpa.pt. “It is a time of growth for Beach Handball in Portugal, the clubs are working very well from the training of athletes to their progression to the senior level and the results are visible, with a large increase in the number of athletes per club.

“This happens thanks to the professionalism with which they work and the ambition to make Beach Handball grow even more and I accept this great challenge with great desire and enthusiasm. I hope that, in the future, the work will take us to the highest levels of the rankings, at all levels.

“I am convinced that we will be able to carry out great preparation for the 2024 IHF World Championship,” he added. “We have a lot of work ahead and a great challenge with high-level male and female athletes, who aim to improve the rankings obtained from the last edition. For this, arriving well prepared for the big competition will be essential.”

France change direction as they look to dominate sand too

Having dominated the seven-a-side, indoor handball scene, France are hoping to replicate their success onto the sand.

Last August, the French Handball Federation (FFHB) announced that former assistant coach Joëlle Demouge would take over the women’s senior national team with Patrick Teyssier assuming the role with the men, and just last week it was revealed that Romain Capelle (women) and Florian Dessertenne (men) will be in charge of their youth (U16) sides under the leadership of National Technical Advisor, Eric Quintin.

“It is a great pride and an honour to be able to represent France in Beach Handball which is just waiting to emerge,” said Capelle to ffhandball.fr. “We must show that France is a country that can exist on the international Beach Handball scene.”

The first job of Dessertene and Capelle will be to prepare their teams for the U16 European Championship in Bulgaria in July, with a view to qualifying through to the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championship in Tunisia.

“I am very happy with the confidence placed in me to take the reins of this team,” said Dessertenne to ffhandball.fr. “It's a great opportunity to continue to contribute to the building of French Beach Handball.”

Oceania making changes

The two leading Beach Handball nations in the Oceania Continent Handball Federation (OCHF) – Australia and New Zealand – have both advertised for applications for managers and coaches for some of their senior national teams, with Australia announcing that former player Lucas Turecek had been appointed as Head Coach for the men’s national team.

Turecek will join existing Australian women’s national team coach Andrew Kelso as they prepare their teams for the upcoming 2024 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in June.

According to handballaustralia.org.au, Turecek had initially been appointed as ‘Acting Coach’ for the subsequently cancelled 2023 ANOC World Beach Games. He is well-known as a national team player in both the sand and indoor disciplines of handball, and has coached at club, regional and international level.

Turecek has already overseen training camps in Adelaide with his first squad selection due to be made this month ahead of the Australian national championships in April.

Meanwhile, neighbours New Zealand have advertised the roles of both head coach and manager for their men’s and women’s national teams, with Willy Silcock, New Zealand Handball Federation Beach Handball Coordinator and Tournament Director updating ihf.info this week on the recruitment process.

“We are looking to provide formal information in the next month or so and internally we are confident we can fill these spots to provide pathways for promising coaches through the youth space and challenge our High Performance squads with strong coaching,” he said.

“We hope that in the long term we can provide Beach Handball as a legitimate alternative sport in New Zealand with obvious pathways to success on the world stage.”

A golden path continues in Germany

The all-conquering German women’s national team coach is not going anywhere, with the German Handball Association announcing that Alexander Novakovic has extended his contract.

One of the world’s most in-demand handball coaches, Novakovic has overseen complete dominance with his side in recent years after taking on the role in 2018.

From 13 July 2021 to 28 May 2023 won every game – 34 in total - across four championships, in a record that is unlikely to be equalled or beaten. This period saw Novakovic’s side win the EHF European Championship twice (2021, 2023), IHF World Championship (2022) and IWGA The World Games 2022) titles all without losing one match.

“I am happy to be able to continue working with the team and want to try with the same passion to build on the successes and continually introduce more talents and youth players to our team,” said the 39-year-old to handball.net.

Photo credit: Kolektiff Images