Beach handball has once again been confirmed for The World Games, with both the men’s and women’s competitions included in the official sports programme for Karlsruhe 2029.

The fast-paced discipline will return to the multi-sport event in Germany, with beach handball listed among the 36 sports and 62 disciplines confirmed by the International World Games Association (IWGA) for The World Games 2029, which will be held in Karlsruhe from 19 to 29 July 2029. Around 4,000 athletes from more than 100 countries are expected to compete across the programme.

The announcement ensures that beach handball will continue its uninterrupted presence in The World Games programme since it became a full sport at the 2013 edition in Cali, Colombia.

Its story at the event, however, began more than a decade earlier. Beach handball made its first appearance at The World Games in Akita, Japan, in 2001, as an invitational sport, before returning for the 2005 edition in Duisburg, Germany, and the 2009 Games in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei. From Cali 2013 onwards, it became an official sport on the programme.

Since then, beach handball has featured at every edition: Cali 2013, Wrocław 2017, Birmingham 2022 and Chengdu 2025, alongside the inaugural three appearances as an invitational sport.

The continued inclusion provides another major international platform for a discipline which has become one of the most recognisable forms of handball played outside the indoor arena. The World Games have also provided an opportunity for different nations to establish themselves on the international beach handball stage, with Brazil’s men being the only team to have appeared at every edition from 2001 through Chengdu 2025.

The most recent edition in Chengdu underlined the global reach of the discipline. Eight teams competed in each of the men’s and women’s tournaments, with Germany winning the men’s title and Argentina taking women’s gold in 2025.

Karlsruhe 2029 will therefore mark the eighth appearance of beach handball at The World Games, continuing a tradition which stretches back almost three decades.

IWGA CEO Constance Terrier highlighted the breadth of the programme, saying the confirmed disciplines “reflect the diversity, quality and global appeal” of The World Games movement.