Today, Thursday 20 June 2024, marks the third edition of the annual ‘International Beach Handball Day’, celebrating the anniversary of the first organised, rules-based beach handball match, which took place on Ponza Island, Italy on 20 June 1992.

And there is no way better to celebrate it than with 32 of the world’s best national senior teams playing in the 20th anniversary of the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championship, currently taking place on Pingtan Island, China.

‘International Beach Handball Day’ was launched on 20 June 2022 at the IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Greece, marking the 30th anniversary of that special match.

The day aims to also celebrate just how far the sport has come since 1992, with the third edition of the IHF Beach Handball Global Tour getting underway in Brazil earlier this year.

Beach Handball was included at the European Games last year, joining a long list of events including the Youth Olympic Games, The World Games, ANOC World Beach Games, African Games, Asian Beach Games, South American Beach Games and many more global and continental events.

The IHF is currently working towards its inclusion at the Olympic Games, the next step of the journey being the "IHF Beach Handball Showcase" on the sidelines of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games which will featuring over 70 of the world’s best players and coaches.

World’s coaches celebrate sport with constructive discussion

To celebrate International Beach Handball Day 2024 and continue working towards building the successful future of the sport, Tamas Neukum, coordinator of Coaching for the IHF Beach Handball Working Group and Mickael Illes, IHF Analyst, invited all 32 coaches at China 2024 to a special coaches’ workshop on Thursday.

In the end more than 40 coaches and their staff were in attendance where a wide range of topics were discussed, including the Paris 2024 Showcase, quantitative and qualitative analysis, a new Beach Handball e-book and other issues, before the meeting ended with an open discussion.

“It was absolutely a success with more coaches than expected in attendance,” said a smiling Neukum about the event. “It was marvellous that all the coaches came, wanting to be involved. They are very motivated, fans of Beach Handball and wanting to give back to the sport.

“We want to start a discussion between the IHF Beach Handball Working Group and the coaches about everything and anything,” he added. “For example, we have a lot of statistics available now but we need the coaches to tell us what they need so when we make a report it can be useful for them – this will be important for us and useful for the future so we can compare the development of the sport.

“We also presented our ideas for our e-Book which will include a variety of video clips, diagrams, graphics etc from training and games. We want them to be part of it; all continents, age categories, both genders and elements of it will become part of the IHF Education Centre in the future.

“We are happy to start the conversation and will keep in touch. The plan is for the workshop to be a permanent part of IHF Beach Handball World Championships going forward.”

Celebrate Beach Handball

As usual, and like all-year round, the IHF calls on all fans of the sport worldwide to tell the world what the sport means to them on social media by using the hashtag #beachhandball.

About International Beach Handball Day

The idea of acknowledging the special moment in the sport was originally conceived by former IHF Beach Handball Working Group member Sasa Kuburovic, with the purpose of shining a light on the sport and celebrating all of those involved in its foundation, currently involved and in its future.

International Beach Handball Day complements the annual International Handball Week which was launched in 2020 and runs from 12 to 18 July every year in homage to the founding of the IHF on 12 July 1946.