The draw for the Beach Handball competitions of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games was completed on Wednesday (22 July).

IHF office member responsible for Beach Handball, Hristo Boskoski, conducted the draw with IHF competition director Patric Strub at the International Handball Federation (IHF) headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

16 teams have confirmed their appearance at the Beach Handball competitions at Dakar 2026 – eight in the men’s competition and eight in the women’s competition:

Draw results

Men’s competition
Group A: Germany, Tunisia, Thailand, Cook Islands
Group B: Brazil, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Senegal

Women’s competition
Group A: Spain, Croatia, People’s Republic of China, Mexico
Group B: Uruguay, France, Kenya, Senegal

 

Exciting clashes ahead in men’s and women’s competitions

Group A of the men’s competition features 2025 IHF Men’s Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championship runners-up Germany go up against Tunisia, who recorded their best-ever youth world championship finish of fifth place, on home sand. Asian side Thailand – who finished sixth in Tunisia – and Oceania representatives Cook Islands make up the group.

Group B features 2025 world championship third-placed side Brazil drawn against Hungary, who the South American side beat in the bronze medal match 2-1 last year to claim that podium spot. Puerto Rico and hosts Senegal make up the group – the two teams also meeting in Tunisia last year in the 11/12 placement match, Puerto Rico winning 2-0.

Earlier this month Germany won silver at the YAC 17 EHF Beach Handball EURO 2026 and Hungary claimed bronze.

Reigning world champions Spain were first out of the pot in the women’s draw. They will face Croatia, China and Mexico in group A. Spain took silver at the YAC 17 EHF Beach Handball EURO 2026 in July, with Croatia finishing fourth.

Fifth-placed at the 2025 world championship, Uruguay, will play France, Kenya and Senegal in group B. The Uruguayans beating France 5:4 via shoot-out in their 5/6 placement match at Tunisia 2025. Senegal beat Kenya in the gold medal match of the African Youth Games last year in Angola.

As host nation, Senegal had the right to choose which preliminary groups they competed in.

Beach Handball at Dakar 2026 will take place across five matchdays, from Monday 9 to Friday 13 November at the 'Saly Beach West' venue, a popular seaside and tourist resort based in the Thiès Region on the ‘Petite Côte’ of Senegal, south of the capital, Dakar.

The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games will run from 31 October to 13 November in Senegal, and marks the second time that Beach Handball will be part of the Olympic Games, following its debut at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The draw event can be watched again on the IHF YouTube channel.

 

Beach Handball at the Youth Olympic Games

The 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) will be held in Dakar, Senegal from 31 October to 13 November 2026. It will feature 25 sports in the official competition programme, with 10 additional disciplines across 151 events, all with full gender balance: 72 events for women, 72 for men, and 7
mixed events.

Qualification for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games was based on a set of principles agreed by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), plus a precondition for teams to participate at the 2025 IHF Men's and Women's Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championships, which took place in Hammamet, Tunisia in 2025.

National Olympic Committees (NOC’s) have to select their athletes (‘Sport Entries’) by September 2026.

Spain’s IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship winner, María Asunción Batista Portero – known in the handball world as Asun Batista – was announced as an ‘Athlete Role Model’ (ARM) for Dakar 2026 back in April.

Dakar 2026 will be the fourth edition of the YOG, following its debut in Singapore (2010), the second edition in Nanjing, China (2014) and 2018 edition, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Indoor/7-a-side handball featured at the 2010 and 2014 editions, before being replaced by Beach Handball at the 2018 edition, the debut event won by Argentina (women) and Spain (men).

The YOG is a major event which embodies the Olympic spirit, sporting excellence and the promotion of youth. The event has become a pillar of the Olympic Movement and is more than just sporting competitions. The YOG are part of an educational and cultural programme aimed at instilling the Olympic values of respect, friendship and excellence in young people around the world.

The election of Dakar as the host city of the YOG 2026 marks a historic moment for Africa. The decision was taken at the 133rd IOC Session in October 2018, making Dakar the first African city to host the YOG.

Initially planned for 2022, Dakar was postponed to 2026 due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has allowed for better planning of the event and ensured its success.