With the 2024 IHF Men’s World Championship throwing-off in the People’s Republic of China on the island of Pingtan later this month, ihf.info takes a look at the last championship, held two years ago on the island of Crete in Greece – the first IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship since Russia (Kazan) 2018, after Italy (Pescara) 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event: Officially called the 10th edition (after Italy 2020, which was set to be the ninth) of the Men’s Beach Handball World Championship, featuring 16 teams, took place in Heraklion, Greece from 21 to 26 June 2022. 

What was new: The venue itself. The first national and permanent facilities for beach and sand sports in Greece were inaugurated for the event which also saw the 2022 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth (U18) Beach Handball World Championships take place ahead of the senior championships (from 14 to 19 June).

The 2022 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship was also an opportunity for the top five teams to qualify for the second edition of the ANOC World Beach Games, which was set to take place in Bali, Indonesia the following year, but which was eventually cancelled.

Five teams made their debut at this level, with Ecuador, Greece, Norway, Portugal and Puerto Rico all stepping on to IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship sand for the first time.

The championships also saw the launch of ‘International Beach Handball Day’ – 20 June – by a number of legends in attendance.

The competition: Four preliminary groups of four teams saw the top three in each go through to two main round groups of six. The bottom team in each preliminary group dropped into a consolation round.

The top four teams in each main round group then went into the knockout stages, starting with the quarter-finals, then semi-finals and medal matches.

Who won: Croatia won their third title, defeating Denmark in the final.

Review: “Fans get engaged with Beach Handball from the very first moment. It’s the speed, the spectacle, that makes people who watch handball for the very first time come and watch it again,” said Greece’s Theodoros Boskos ahead of the throw-off of the men’s event which was set to feature 72 games, 16 teams and six continents across six days.

Brazil came to Greece 2022 as current world champions (2018), ANOC World Beach Games champions (2017), South and Central America champions (2022) and The World Games champions (2017) in direct comparison to nearly a third of the 16 teams who were debutants, including Ecuador, who were appearing for the first time at any Beach Handball World Championship.

The first day had the first shock with Uruguay defeating Spain via a shoot-out, while the home fans could rest easy after seeing Greece beat the USA 2-0 on central court, under the floodlights to qualify for the main round.

"At first it [playing here] was really hard because we have the anxiety of being the home team and we have to show to our people that we are good enough to find whatever we imagine,” said Greece’s Georgios Eleftheriadis to ihf.info. “It's pretty cool the feeling that you play outside with the open sky, under the lights, with all this crowd and their voices is pretty cool.”

The second day saw Wael Aly's Egypt versus Antonio Guerra Peixe's Iran with the losing going into the consolation round. Aly was the first-ever captain of a men's beach handball world championship-winning side, when he led his Egypt team to gold on home sand back in 2004 in the debut event, while Peixe, known as 'The Professor', is synonymous with the Brazilian men's beach handball team having been their coach for many years which saw them drip in gold. The USA joined them in the main round after defeating Puerto Rico.

The third day saw Ecuador win their first-ever world championship set, then game, defeating New Zealand 2-0 in the consolation round, while a whole host of main round action, saw Brazil confirm their quarter-final place by defeating Iran led by their former coach Peixe while world championship debutants - and hosts - Greece beat Spain in a shoot-out, 9:8, to confirm their last eight place.

New Zealand, like Ecuador, would then win their first-ever IHF Men's Beach Handball World Championship game, defeating debutants Puerto Rico, 2-0. “Credit to all the boys on how everyone came together and did what needed to be done,” said New Zealand’s Max Hamilton to ihf.info.

After confirming their semi-final place with a 2-0 win over Norway on day five Croatia’s Josip Leko breathed a sigh of relief. “Norway was a must-win, our most difficult game of the tournament,” he told us. “We entered the game as we wanted and controlled the game from beginning to the end and we are very happy to be in the semi-finals.”

Joining them in the last four was the host nation, who defeated Qatar via shoot-out, the same path the Danes took, defeating Uruguay 9:6 to book their final four spot along with Brazil who saw off Spain.
 
The Danish men they made history for their country, becoming the first men's side to make an IHF Men's Beach Handball World Championship final after defeating Brazil in the semi-final following an uncharacteristic miss from both Bruno Carlos De Oliveira and Gil Pires in their shoot-out.

They became the first team from the country for 10 years to make a beach final, following the women's silver in 2012, which had followed their first silver two years previously. “I mean, it's amazing. It’s hard to describe,” said Denmark’s Simon Jensen after the victory.
 
Croatia then took down the Greeks in their semi-final, via a 5:0 shoot-out win after the hosts saw their first two shots saved by Dominik Markovic and then hit the post with their third. It would be their fourth, consecutive final after reaching the last two in 2014, 2016 and 2018 and they would face Denmark for the title.

Croatia’s leader Ivan Juric told ihf.info ahead of the game: “We have a saying and make fun in our team: if you want to win, you don't lose. Every competition we prepare ourselves. We are just a group of people that hate to lose.”

Qatar saw off Uruguay for 5/6 place to book their tickets through to the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia, while Brazil beat Greece 2-0 in the 3/4 placement match – their first-ever bronze medal after winning seven gold or silvers in their previous eight appearances.

The final day of action in Heraklion was the final between Denmark and Croatia – game number 72 of the 2022 IHF Men's Beach Handball World Championship in Greece but the 288th and final game on the Heraklion sand which hosted both youth events and the senior women's championship.

And what a way to end it as the 2021 European champions Denmark met the team they beat in the final a year ago, but the Croatians made it count this time, defeating the Danes 2–0 (24:22, 21:18) for the title.

"It's an amazing feeling. We're number one in the world. I congratulate my team, Croatia,” said Dominik Markovic about the gold.

2022 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship - Greece
MVP: Lucian Bura, Croatia
Top scorer: Lucian Bura, Croatia – 164 points
Fair Play Award: Norway

All-star Team:

Best goalkeeper: Simon Jensen, Denmark
Best left wing: Georgios Elefthriadis, Greece
Best right wing: Lucian Bura, Croatia
Best specialist: Martin Andersen, Denmark
Best pivot: Gil Pires, Brazil
Best defender: Jeppe Villumsen, Denmark

Final Ranking:
1 Croatia
2 Denmark
3 Brazil
4 Greece
5 Qatar
6 Uruguay
7 Spain
8 Norway
9 Islamic Republic of Iran
10 Portugal
11 Argentina
12 United States of America
13 Ecuador
14 New Zealand
15 Egypt
16 Puerto Rico

What happened next: In addition to various national, regional and continental competitions for the players, The World Games 2022 took place in Birmingham, Alabama, USA in July.