Four days of beach handball action featuring the very best European club sides concluded this past weekend as the EHF European Beach Handball Tour (ebt) Finals played out in Antalya, Türkiye.

28 teams from 11 European nations played 114 games across three courts in four days (8 – 11 June 2023) to decide the title, with 'The Danish Beachhandball Dream' defending their 2022 women's title – which they had won in 2022 under the name 'Team Blue Bee' – and Hungary's HÍR-SAT BHC crowned new men's champions.

The Danish side did not have an easy time on their way to retaining their women's title, losing two shoot-outs – against Multichem Szentendrei NKE and Westsite Amsterdam – in the preliminary group stage to finish in third place. 

However, straight-set victories against Kras Volendam and a revenge defeat of Westsite in the quarter-finals and semi-finals set up a gold medal match against Spanish side CATS A.M. Team Almeria, featuring 2018 Youth Olympic Games gold medallist, Argentina's Zoe Turnes.

And it was a dramatic final. 

CATS took the first set 27:26 thanks to a golden goal from Andrea Lerena Colunga after the ball had been turned over twice in the additional period. Then, after falling behind early on in the second set, the Danes came back strongly to lead with points spare, but a misplaced pass at the death meant goalkeeper Josefine Indiane Lund Mahler had to come up with the big stop to take it to a shoot-out, and she did.

Turnes then started the tense finale in the worst possible fashion, her opening shot hitting the crossbar, but further drama was to come with two video replays used. 

First, Johanne Uhrhammer in goal for the Danish side was eventually shown a red card for a defending foul on Malena Guerisolo Panzeri and then, in the most dramatic fashion, Colunga, with the Spanish side's fifth shot, which had to be scored, having a coming together with Sandra Therkildsen Hansen in the opposing goal. After a much shorter pause, it was decided by the referees that it was an attacking foul and the title returned to Denmark.

The men's championship was more simple for Hungary's HÍR-SAT BHC. They won all six of their preliminary games before finishing with a clean set of 2-0 knock-out games. First, they defeated SC Squadra Buda in the quarter-finals, then GFCA Beach Handball in the last four and the traditional strongmen on the beach, BHC Zagreb, in the final.

At the end of the finals, the All-star Teams were announced, which were a mix of nearly 3,000 fan votes and selections made by a panel of beach handball experts.

A global outlook

Despite it being a European event, players from across the world can represent the teams, with a number of high-profile internationals, including the USA pair of self-titled 'Handball Ninja' Ebiye Jeremy and 2022 IHF Women's Beach Handball World Championship top-scorer Christine Mansour, appearing on the Turkish sand. The women's competition also saw Argentinean Zoe Turnes and New Zealand international Francesca Graham compete.

And it was an extra-special event for the USA's Jeremy after being invited through social media to help coach and play for the fourth-placed French side GFCA Beach Handball, who were appearing at their debut ebt Finals.

"Last week was the best of my life," said Jeremy, who celebrated his 30th birthday whilst in Turkey. "Antalya was gorgeous and what better way to celebrate a new decade of life than playing the sport you love in a country you haven't played in yet and learn from new friends?

"What notably stood out to me as a non-European at the ebt Finals was the buzzer timeout system and the video assisted replay, aka: VAR, that was used in the competition that you don't see anywhere else in the sport at the present," he added.

"The high concentration of countries that have elite beach handball teams in such close proximity to one another is unlike anything I've witnessed in any other continent, and I say that having played in all of them minus Antarctica, but I feel as if at the top level in our sport the game is starting to look more the same across continents as beach handball knowledge has become more globalised, particularly in the past half decade since we were at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina."

Remembering Cemal

The celebration of beach handball in Türkiye was also providing a poignant moment for everyone involved with handball in the country and the wider world.

Last February two devastating earthquakes hit the country, with Turkish indoor and beach handball player, Cemal Kütahya, along with his five-year-old son and wife passing away.

The bronze medal-winning HEI Beach Handball team, led by Danish international Martin Vilstrup Andersen, paid their respects to Kütahya throughout the tournament in a very special way with a picture of Kütahya and his family on the back of their shirts, complete with his name and flag of the country.

“The beach handball community is a small family and I had met and played against Cemal a couple of times,” explained Andersen about the shirts to local media.

“I asked the team how can we show our respect about this sad situation, about the loss. We had a lot of talk about how we should do it. We contacted the company who make our shirts and came up with the design which put the picture on the back, his name and the Turkish flag.”

Kütahya's sister Gözde came to the arena during the closing and presentation ceremonies to personally thank the HEI Beach Handball athletes and presented her brother's jersey to Andersen, with Konyaaltı Municipality Sports Club presenting each of the Danish athletes with a gift in recognition of their gesture.

“Believe me, it makes me very emotional that my brother is mentioned everywhere like this,” said Gözde Kütahya after the presentation.

Final ranking

Men's Competition

1. HÍR-SAT BHC
2. BHC Zagreb
3. HEI Beach Handball
4. GFCA Beach Handball, 5. GRD Leça - Spar, 6. SC Squadra Buda, 7. Fomento Deporte CBMP Ciudad de Málaga, 8. EKOSERWIS CIECH DAMY RADE INOWROCLAW, 9. 12Monkeys Köln BHC, 10. ESP BMP Benalmádena Maravillas, 11. Camelot Handball Tilburg, 12. Konyaalti Belediyesi BHT, 13.Vegetas BHC, 14. Associacao Desportiva OSN

Women's Competition

1. The Danish Beachhandball Dream
2. CATS A.M. Team Almeria
3. Westsite Amsterdam
4. OVB Beach Girls, 5. Kras Volendam, 6. GRD Leça - Love Tiles, 7. BHT Conkret Byczki Kowalewo Pomorskie, 8. Multichem Szentendrei NKE, 9. Team WON, 10. BMP Urci Almeria, 11. BHC Zagreb, 12. Konyaalti Belediyesi BHT, 13. Beach Bazis, 14. London GD

All the games from Antalya were streamed live and free on EHFTV.com and can be watched again on demand.

For more information on the men's competition visit here and for more information on the women's competition visit here.

Photo: European Handball Federation / Kolektiff Images