Following the success of hosting a stage of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour, as well as being the home of the 2023 African Beach Games, Tunisia is set to make one giant step on the international Beach Handball stage when it hosts the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championship.

The third edition of the younger age event returns to Africa for the second time and is provisionally set to be played from 17 to 22 June 2025 in Hammamet, a city in the north-east of the country, around 65km south-east of capital city Tunis.

“We are very excited to host the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U17) Beach Handball World championships here in Tunisia and welcome the participants,” said Kamel Borgi, President of the Tunisian Beach Handball League, Member of the African Beach Games Organisation Committee and President of the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) Beach Handball Working Group, to ihf.info.

“The organisation of such an event represents an honour for Tunisia which is proud to show what the African continent is capable of doing not only at the level of organisation but also at the sporting level.”

Tunisia is not stranger in hosting IHF World Championship events, having hosted the 2005 IHF Men’s World Championship in Rades, Tunis, Sousse, Nabeul and Sfax and the 2009 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship in Tunis, Nabeul and 2025 host city, Hammamet.

“With Tunisia's history in Beach Handball and our experience in organising international events, it was obvious to present our candidacy to host and this will help us in the development of the game in Tunisia and on the continent in general.

“Our organisation of this event will accelerate the work set up by the Tunisian Handball Federation for the development of the game in Tunisia.”

Despite the event not set to take place for 18 months, planning is already well underway with a friendly tournament set to take place at the hosting venue in Hammamet from 9 to 11 March 2024. The event will see Tunisia, France and Denmark take part in a friendly men’s senior and men’s youth tournament, following on from a similar event held at the same time last year.

“The Tunisian Handball Federation has already started to work on the 2025 organisation by setting up a special unit that will define the actions to be followed,” said Borgi. “In 2025 we will continue with our friendly tournaments in March and another one just before the start of the IHF World Championship.

“In fact we organise this annual international friendly tournament every March with the participation of several teams from Europe and this, combined with our national championship which takes place throughout the summer on the Tunisian coast for the senior and U16 categories means we are always active on the sand.

“Later this year the CAHB is planning to organise an U16 championship with dates and a venue to be confirmed in due course.”

And this, combined with the upcoming East Africa Zone 5 Member Countries Beach Handball Tournament and Training in Tanzania next month and individual countries actively promoting the sport, it is all looking rosy ahead of the historic 2026 Youth Olympic Games which will take place in Dakar, Senegal and feature Beach Handball for the second time, following its debut at Buenos Aires 2018.

“The 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U17) Beach Handball World Championship is the best way for federations to prepare their teams and the ideal opportunity for the various stakeholders of Dakar 2026 to better prepare for the organisation of the upcoming Youth Olympic Games,” said Borgi.

“In Tunisia, we have been working on young people for years and incorporating many of them into our senior national teams. The proposed U16 CAHB championship later this year will provide all of our national coaches to have a wider squad selection with more choices going forward.”

So, for anyone considering their holidays in 2025, then why not book a date for Tunisia next June and experience the famous Tunisian hospitality, while watching the next generation of one of the world’s most exhilarating sports played under the banner of ‘Fair Play’.

“Anyone who comes and visits will have the chance to be amazed inside and outside the court,” said Borgi about Hammamet.

“Tunisia has 1,500km of the most beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean Sea and is a country known for its warm welcome. Those who are going to be present will benefit from the most beautiful beaches, a good organisation and a very good welcome.”

The 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship is the third edition of the event, following its 2017 debut in Flic-en-Flac, Mauritius (U17) won by Spain (men) and Hungary (women) and the second edition in 2022 played in Heraklion, Greece (U18) with Croatia (men) and Spain (women) taking the titles.