The match schedule for the fourth and final stage of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour has been released and features some mouthwatering clashes.

Stage 4 – the final stage – will take place in Doha, Qatar, from 3 to 4 November and includes four men’s and four women’s national teams from six countries, playing a total of 16 games (eight each in the men’s and women’s competitions).

Teams in each competition will battle it out to be crowned the ‘2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour Champions’, with Brazil and Tunisia fielding teams in both the men’s and women’s events, joined by Qatar and Denmark in the men’s competition and Poland and the People’s Republic of China in the women’s competition.

Four continents will be showcased in Qatar, with South America, Europe, Asia and Africa all represented at the Al-Gharafa Beach Venue, one of the venues which hosted beach handball at the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games.

The first three sessions of the four-session event will see the four teams in each competition play each other once, in the afternoon and evening on Friday 3 November and afternoon on Saturday 4 November.

After the preliminary stage, the top two teams in each group will play-off directly in the final for the gold medal, and title, while the third and fourth-placed teams will do battle for bronze.

The evening session on Saturday will feature the medal matches, with the men’s bronze-medal match taking place at 19:45 and final at 21:15, while the women’s bronze-medal match will be played at 19:00 and final at 20:30.

Rivalries revisited as men do battle

Three big clashes await in the men’s preliminary group stage, with familiar rivalries revisited as Denmark, Brazil and Qatar do battle once again, with the added addition of African champions Tunisia.

2022 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship runners-up and European Games bronze medallists Denmark take on the Brazilians in the first session, following on from Qatar playing Tunisia.

Denmark vs Brazil is a rematch of their world championship clashes last year in Greece. In the preliminary group stage Brazil took a 2-1 shoot-out win (16:12, 16:21, SO 9:8) before Denmark – on their way to a silver medal – reversed the result in their semi-final clash, 2-1 (16:21, 17:16, SO 6:4).

After Tunisia and Denmark open the evening session, host nation Qatar then face their nemesis’ from South America in the evening session, a repeat of their preliminary group game from Greece last year which saw Brazil take a shoot-out win, 2-1 (16:17, 14:10, SO 8-6) and from their The World Games 2022 semi-final a few weeks later which saw Qatar take a 2-1 win (18:21, 22:10, SO 8:6).

Day two in Doha sees Qatar take on Denmark in what could be a winner-takes-all clash for the final, followed by Brazil facing Tunisia. At Greece 2022, Qatar defeated Denmark in the main round 2-1 (25:24, 22:23 SO 12:10).

All four teams are familiar with the Doha venue, playing there back in 2019 at the debut edition of the ANOC World Beach Games.

Denmark caused an early shock in the competition, defeating Brazil 2-0 (23:21, 19:16) in the preliminary round, the same stage which saw Qatar defeat Tunisia by the same score, 2-0 (18:12, 18:14). And on their way to the title, Brazil saw off Qatar 2-1 (15:14, 10:14, SO 7:4) in a thrilling semi-final.

Most recently, on stage 3 of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour in July, 23 points from Martin Andersen saw the Danes took a comfortable 2-0 (27:16, 22:15) victory over Qatar.

“It’s a great group of teams and all of them are there because they won a tour stage,” said Denmark’s Andersen to ihf.info ahead of the event.

“The level will be really high and we need to perform at our best against three strong opponents with different playing styles. We hope that we can get to the final as we want to keep a consistent level of great results which we have done in recent years.”

Andersen then praised the format of the 2023 Tour, ensuring that only the best get to play off.

“I like the concept of a qualification tournament where teams play to get a spot at the final stage – it means that it’s well-deserved,” he said. “You only get one chance to qualify and it’s not easy because of the level of so many great national teams. So we’re super happy to be qualified, after an amazing event in Poland.

“We’re always excited about playing in different countries and we had the pleasure to play in Qatar before, at the ANOC World Beach Games in 2019, so we’re very much looking forward to it and expect it to be a great event.”

An open field with Brazil looking for gold

The Al-Gharafa Beach Venue will not be unknown to any of the teams in the women’s competition of stage 4 – all four nations competed on the very same sand back at the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games.

On their way to bronze four years ago, Brazil saw off Tunisia in the preliminary group stage 2-0 (18:3, 20:4) and Poland 2-0 (14:12, 20:8) in the quarter-finals. Poland defeated China 2-0 (22:20, 21:13) in the preliminary group while the Asian side defeated Tunisia 2-0 (21:16, 15:6) in the 9-12 placement round.

However, the South Americans are the clear favourites. Historically, they have won global medals time and time again and despite Argentina causing them continental problems in recent years, they returned to their continental summit in July, taking the 2023 South American Beach Games title. 

After Poland and China open up the stage, African champions and IHF Beach Handball Global Tour Stage 2 winners, Tunisia, will be looking to test themselves against the South Americans.

Asia then take on Africa in the evening session as China and Tunisia face off, with Brazil ending the opening day against Poland. Poland and Tunisia and Brazil vs China complete the preliminary stage on Saturday afternoon.

For more information and quotes from the teams involved, click HERE.

Officials confirmed

Representatives from five countries will make up the officials team in Doha.

The IHF Technical Officials are Ioannis Meimaridis (GRE) and Ismael Bin Hasher (UAE) who will be joined by fellow the referee pairings of Sergio Martinez and Victor Rollan from Spain, Iranians Soleyman Payda and Mohammad Javad Kiani, plus the Qatari couple of Khalid Al-Hail and Mohammed Alyafei.

In addition, IHF Beach Handball Working Group Chair Giampiero Masi will also be in attendance alongside Hristo Boskoski, IHF office member responsible for beach handball.

2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour – Stage 4: Finals

Date: 3 – 4 November

Location: Doha, Qatar

Men's teams: Qatar, Denmark, Tunisia, Brazil

Women's teams: Tunisia, Poland, People’s Republic of China, Brazil

Match Schedule

Friday 3 November

Men’s Competition

1515     QAT vs TUN

1645     DEN vs BRA

1945     TUN vs DEN

2115     BRA vs QAT

Women’s Competition

1430     POL vs CHN

1600     TUN vs BRA

1900     CHN vs TUN

2030     BRA vs POL

Saturday 4 November

Men’s Competition

1600     QAT vs DEN

1645     BRA vs TUN

1945     3/4 Placement/Bronze-Medal Match

2115     Final/Gold-Medal Match

Women’s Competition

1430     POL vs TUN

1515     BRA vs CHN

1900     3/4 Placement/Bronze-Medal Match

2030     Final/Gold-Medal Match

About the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour

The IHF Beach Handball Global Tour was launched at the 2022 IHF Men's and Women's Beach Handball World Championships in Greece.

The Tour debuted in Gdansk, Poland, in July 2022, with Croatia winning the men's tournament and Spain taking the top spot in the women's tournament.

The 2023 Tour has visited Brazil, Tunisia and Poland and will end in Qatar with the finals event.