After the 2026 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship concluded in Croatia, IHF.info spoke to the players and coaches involved in the medal matches (Sunday 28 June).

Final/Gold Medal Match: Brazil v Germany 0-2 (18:21, 14:21)

Marten FRANKE (Germany), coach – gold

On winning gold:
I really must say it was the perfect day for us, because the whole preparation was really ideal. I was as calm as never before in a final, because we were prepared and we didn't have the pressure to win. 

Last year we won two tournaments [and I said to the team] if we don't win this final, nothing happens; then we just have a great silver medal. All of these guys knew this; that we can win something and not lose anything. 

On beating Brazil in the final:
We were well-prepared, we knew everything, and it started with the start, in the first action. We exactly saw this happening, and in this moment, I also got the feeling; ‘okay, maybe it really works like we have planned it before’. From goalkeeper to defence to offence, more or less, everything works, and this is the most satisfying thing.

This was the best match we've ever played, the best final we've ever played. And due to this it's really a championship we have earned. We are really trying to improve always, but today we can let go of everything and just party.

On winning three titles and being current world, continental and The World Games champions at the same time, like the German women’s team had a few years ago:
I would have never, never expected this. My girlfriend is one of the players who won all the three titles in the short amount of time, and I just called and said; ‘okay, now we're equal’. What the women's did was really incredible, and probably will never, never happen again, but with this team to win three such titles in an amount of, yeah, less than 12 months, it's really unbelievable.

On his emotions of his team:
I'm just happy for them because they put so much effort into beach handball, into this team for the last 3,4, 5, years, some of them more. I never worry about pushing too much. I also never have the feeling that they are not doing enough, because I know they have the right mindset. This is really a special team. I've never experienced such a team. Everyone is there for everybody, and we trust in everybody.

Let’s take Tim Krauth, who came into the squad two or three weeks ago, for Jannis Herr (injured), who played fabulous last year. Today he made the best match he has ever played, in the final, and this is unbelievable. This is really unbelievable. Everybody trusted in him. This is the most important thing for the win today.

On keeping motivated to win despite winning everything:
It won't be easy, definitely. We cannot win every title for the next few years. This is not possible on this stage. There are many good teams in this tournament. The top 10 are more or less equal. We are lucky that we won all the shoot-outs. It is so tied together, all the teams. It's not possible to win every title, but we will try to improve year-by-year, because we won't win a title if we are staying on this level. We have to improve year-by-year. We have good youth team, young players are rising and this team will grow.

Moritz EBERT (Germany), player – gold

On being world champions, continental champions and The World Games champions at the same time:
We have put a lot of work into the goal that we had in the beginning of the tournament: we came to this world championship to win gold. We had some struggles, we went to shoot-out six out of nine times, and that's quite a lot, especially in the preliminary group and the main round, but we kept our heads up and now it's amazing that we have won the title. 

On beating Brazil:
It's very joyful. We didn't expect that, and it to be so different today. I don't want to say that we wanted it more, because I think Brazil also wanted it more, but we are so strong as a team. Every individual part is world class; every player from our squad is a world class player. Everybody has shown that level of playing style in this match. In the end, maybe it was a little bit of luck, a little bit more willingness to go after the safe shots. We are so grateful for this team.

On winning every game:
We are quite a strong team.

On winning everything and what is next:
We want more. Next year, it's another European Championship and we're going to this championship also wanting to win, but now we're celebrating this world championship, our first world championship. You can't have enough medals.

Bruno DE CARLOS OLIVEIRA (Brazil), player – silver

On what was said amongst the squad after the final loss:
The feeling is that it wasn’t possible. The German side were great today, maybe if we play for even more time [we wouldn’t win] as the energy was with Germany. It’s beach handball and we have a feeling about this that they play better than us in this match. 

On losing to Germany:
Germany have won every match in the world championship sometimes losing one set and win shoot-out. Beach handball is at a high level today and they (Germany) are happy.

In this moment I'm sorry, because the others guys, they youngest, don’t feel the gold medal, but everyone make the best today in the court. When you give everything, you don't have sadness because we did this, but Germany was just better.

Bronze Medal Match: CRO v ARG 1-2 (17:16, 16:18, SO 8:9)

Francisco NUNEZ MULLER (Argentina), player – bronze

On the Croatia 2026 experience:
This championship has been tough for us; we’ve been struggling since the first matches. We had a [preliminary] group that was really difficult, but we kept fighting. We couldn’t win the semi-final but we got to the bronze medal and we are happy. We are here and we are celebrating.

On the difference between them and Croatia in winning the game:
No, there's no difference. We are in this match and it’s all equal until the end. Argentina, Brazil, Germany…all the countries are going right until the end.

On the performance of Croatia goalkeeper Luka Bakovic:
He's amazing. Amazing. When I shot the final ball, I was; ‘oh my God, he's going to take it’, but it turned in my side, so I'm happy.

On what he thought the moment they won:
I thought, you know, about my teammates in Argentina, my family, the guys of my team here and my country. My country is the best. I'm exhausted but I'm really excited.

On the journey to bronze:
It’s about the growing of this team. There were 140 training sessions for us. It was a really crazy year, training in the winter. We struggled a lot to be here. We are happy, and we are ready to celebrate.

On the men’s team winning a senior global medal, joining the women’s team:
We are a big family in Argentinian beach handball. We work all together to be growing step-by-step. The girls are really amazing playing this game and we learned a lot from them.