The 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Zagreb enter the business stage with the quarter-finals and semi-finals both being played on the fifth day (Saturday 27 June) of competition at Lake Jarun.

A packed morning/afternoon and evening session, will also see the 9-16 placement round and subsequent rounds get underway, with 30 games played to be played in total across the two sessions.

Perfect Spain facing Greece test as seven 2024 quarter-finalists return to last eight once again

Seven of the eight quarter-finalists in the women’s competition at Croatia 2026 featured at the same two years ago, with 2018 world champions Greece the only side who were not present in the last eight at China 2024, replacing Portugal.

And one of those quarter-finals is a repeat: Denmark playing Croatia once again, the host nation knowing anything but a perfect performance is the minimum required should they want to reverse the 2-0 (27:22, 22:18) loss against the Danes two years ago.

Brazil and Germany also faced off two years ago, the South American side winning via shoot-out 7:4 – the Germans coming into the game having seen Spain women hand them a clear defeat in their final main round game on Thursday (26 June) to end their unbeaten unrecord. 

Brazil will be relieved they survived a shock lost to the Philippines in the main round and made it into the last eight, knowing a win will help expunge memories of their lowest-ever world championship ranking of eighth last time out – a drop-off in position for the three-time gold medal winners.

The final quarter-final sees 2024 bronze medallists Netherlands looking to get revenge against 2024 silver medallists Argentina after the South American side beat them 2-1 (14:19, 27:20, SO 8:5) at China 2024 in the semi-final.

The 9-16 placement features Uruguay taking on the Cook Islands, Philippines playing the USA and Puerto facing off against Vietnam.

Same teams, same stage for 2026 men’s competition

All eight teams in the men’s quarter-finals were at that stage two years ago, with Croatia and Hungary meeting once again in the last eight, host Croatia hoping to repeat their 2-1 (27:26, 16:21, SO 8:6) victory and keep their dreams alive of three, successive world championship titles in a row. Croatia also beat the Hungarians in the EHF EURO 2025 bronze medal match last year, 9:8 via shoot-out.

The other quarter-finals feature Germany taking on Denmark in a repeat of The World Games 2025 quarter-finals from last year in Chengdu, China, won 2-1 by Germany on their way to the title, Argentina facing Portugal and Spain playing Brazil – a match-up which saw Brazil down Spain to win bronze in Chengdu last year as well.

Four games will feature in the 9-16 placement round with two debutant v continent winner clashes. France take on Oceania gold medallists Australia, while Italy face Asian champions Oman. The other two games feature Iran playing Puerto Rico and Tunisia taking on the USA.

All games from Croatia 2026 will be streamed live and free (no login required) on the IHF Competitions YouTube channel (geo-restrictions will apply) click HERE for more information.

2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships - Day 5 schedule

Friday 26 June 2026

Women’s Competition

Quarter-Finals
1000 DEN v CRO, BRA v GER
1200 ESP v GRE, NED v ARG

Semi-Finals
1800 TBC
2000 TBC

9-16 Placement Round
1000 URU v COK, PHI v USA
1200 NOR v BEN*, PUR v VIE

5-8 Placement Round
1800 TBC
2000 TBC

9-12 Placement Round
1800 TBC
2000 TBC

13-16 Placement Round
1800 TBC
2000 TBC

Men’s Competition

Quarter-Finals
1100 GER v DEN, ARG v POR
1300 HUN v CRO, ESP v BRA

Semi-Finals
1900 TBC
2100 TBC

9-16 Placement Round
1100 FRA v AUS, OMA v ITA
1300 IRI v PUR, TUN v USA

5-8 Placement Round
1900 TBC
2100 TBC

9-12 Placement Round
1900 TBC
2100 TBC

13-16 Placement Round
1900 TBC
2100 TBC

All times local (CEST). Competition Management has the right to change the order, the court and the time of the matches.

*Game forfeited 2-0 (10:0, 10:0) to Norway due to Benin withdrawing from the competition