Last July, Spain and Germany met in the YAC 16 EURO semi-final in Bulgaria on the sand in Varna.

In a tight first set Jesus Sanchez scored a single point to take a 21:20 victory, while Marcos Garcia Lopez-Ibarra scored a two-pointer at the death in the second, for a two-point 24:22 set win and overall 2-0 success.

And even though Germany beat Spain on Friday in the main round of the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship in Tunisia, 2-0, that was not enough to extinguish memories of that painful defeat almost a year ago.

“Last year, at the EURO, we were slightly off and lost against Spain. Now, we have them again, and have a chance to have revenge,” said Germany defender Thure Bielfeldt to ihf.info. “Yes, we already played against them, but it doesn't matter. It's a completely different game now, and every step counts. There will not be a lot of tactics [analysis] but there will be us fighting (for gold).”

Bielfeldt is part of a German defence who come up against a Spain attack, lying fourth in the table, who are backed up by the meanest defence of the tournament, with the Spanish side conceding just 26 points per match.

And that constant changing from defence to offence in beach, at the highest level – a world championship final – is both a physical and mental strain for the players, who have been playing games in heat that has rarely dropped below 30 degrees.

“We have a great team. We are three players in defence and are all really great defenders,” explained the 16-year-old. “When one of us is a bit down, the others help them up. Everyone knows his job, and we always talk and it's perfect.

“In the match you don't think, you're just doing it,” said Bielfeldt about the transition on and off court when defence changes into attack. “It is always ‘run, run, run,’ and sometimes just for one or two seconds. It's really hard, and especially in games like the semi-final. It’s really fast, and lot of ball changes and direction.

“But this isn’t the toughest one, it is when you have to make so many decisions in such a short time. You're always one player less on defence when the other team are attacking so you have to do some tricks, or some special things to trick the offence and that’s really hard, not only for your legs, but also for your head.

“I come from Germany, and we have nearer 15 degrees than 30 or 35 like here in Hammamet. It rains all the time and it's completely different, but you have to commit to the weather, and you have to do the best you can with a lot of cooling with ice and no direct sun – you have to fight.”

Committing is something Bielfeldt is well-aware of as he approaches the biggest game of his beach handball life.

Not originally in an initial regional youth selection in Germany, around three years ago now men’s senior coach Marten Franke had seen the player had potential and told youth coach Konrad Bansa ‘I have probably found someone for you’

At that time, Bielfeldt was more focused on his youth basketball career in the Bundesliga than even indoor handball, but he became part of the programme and developed rapidly.

“The reason why I am here now was right in the beginning, when I came to beach handball three years ago, one of the team got sick,” said the HSG Schülp/Westerrönfeld/Rendsburg player.

“For me, it was more about the fun of the sport in those days, but now, being in Africa in a world championship is completely unrealistic. It doesn't come to my mind and I think it will take some days for me – I just don't imagine this.”

Now, both the German’s men’s and women’s youth teams are in a world championship final, something the women’s senior team are well-known for particularly and Bielfeldt is confident about the potential of his team in the future, starting today.

“It's great. We always wanted to get a bit higher and as you see, we are both in the finals and this says everything and I hope German beach handball will rise in the future even more, but for now, I hope we can win against Spain and have a great revenge.”