The fourth day of competition sees a packed schedule of main and consolation round games with 28 match-ups spread across a morning and afternoon/evening session.

By the end of the day, the last eight teams in the men’s and women’s competitions will be known.

Four non-European team guaranteed in men’s quarter-finals already, could there be more?

In a quirk of the draw, main round group I is the only one at Tunisia 2025 to not feature any European teams. This means that four non-European teams are guaranteed a quarter-finals spot and the day will likely end with five, with Oman well-placed in group I. It even have the possibility of six, if Puerto Rico were to win their games against Croatia and Hungary and other results go their way.

Two spaces for the quarter-final remain available from main round group II with Argentina and Tunisia already confirmed after continuing their perfect records – one of them will end the day with a loss as they will meet in their evening session. Looking to join them, and already in a strong place in third on four points are Brazil.  

A win for them against either Tunisia or Mexico will be enough to see them through, while Thailand – who face Argentina first, will know that should Uruguay beat Mexico and they lose to the South Americans, their final clash against Thailand could be an effective play-off for the final spot.

Group I has the possibility to be completely different come the end of the day. Spain currently lie in top spot on six points, followed by Germany and Oman (four points each), Croatia and Hungary (two points each) and Puerto Rico bottom on zero. With Oman upsetting Croatia yesterday anything is possible in the schedule.

After a day of rest for the Cook Islands, they open their consolation round campaign against Kenya in the morning, with the winner of that clash winning not only their first-ever world championship set, but their first-ever win. Kenya will be looking to reset after losing to Senegal via shoot-out in their opener on Thursday.

However, Senegal will be full of confidence after that momentous occasion on the sand.

“Amazing, it’s been a lot of work,” said one of the Senegal coaching team, Mika Iles, to ihf.info about how he felt after that victory, which had seen Kenya take the first set. 

“In the preliminary round the players played really well, and they missed winning sets every time by two or four points, so it was really difficult for them when they went out of contention for the main round – they cried a lot. So, for everything that they have been doing, it's really important that they had this victory. They have a good mentality, they don't like to lose and that's the spirit of Senegal.

“But Kenya are amazing too,” he added. “It's really cool to see two nations from Africa at this level of beach handball – that's really good for the future.”

For a look at the men’s statistics at Tunisia 2025 so far, click HERE.

Four spots, eight teams battling it out in women’s competition

With the Netherlands and France (main round group I) and Hungary and Uruguay (main round group II) already secure in the quarter-finals, the final two spots in each group are up for grabs with four teams from each group fancying their chances.

Germany and Spain are in the strongest positions in both, with four points each, while Brazil and Senegal on two each are also well-placed.

The top two Asian women’s sides will face off in group I early in the morning, when Thailand will be looking to overturn their 2-0 (20:6, 20:8) and 2-1 (20:21, 19:14, SO 10:4) Asian championship double loss in Bangkok last October – whomever wins will be up to two points and with should Brazil lose against Netherlands in their opener of the day, then China, who will face them later know that a win against the South Americans will see their last eight spot. 

France play Netherlands in the later session – a repeat of the YAC 16 EURO final which the Dutch won 2-0 last year.

In group II, Hungary and Spain replay their EURO quarter-final, which saw the Hungarian win via shoot-out, 2-1. Spain will know they are likely to get at least one win tomorrow as they face bottom side Tunisia too and that should be enough to go through, while Senegal face Croatia, knowing that should the Europeans beat them, they could overtake them in the group, if they lose to the already-qualified Uruguay. The South Americans will close the day with a clash against Hungary in a game which is likely to decide the group winners.

History will be made in the consolation round with Mexico and Kenya clashing in the early game – a win for either side will be their first-ever at this level, while the Mexicans face Bulgaria in the evening, the Europeans already with their first win in their pocket and looking to taste glory again.

For a look at the women’s statistics at Tunisia 2025 so far, click HERE

All games will be streamed live via the IHF YouTube Competitions channel.

Friday 20 June – Schedule
(All times local)

Men’s Competition

Main Round Group I
1020 OMA vs GER, ESP vs CRO, PUR vs HUN
1600 ESP vs GER, OMA vs HUN, PUR vs CRO

Main Round Group II
1250 TUN vs BRA, THA vs ARG, MEX vs URU
1830 TUN vs ARG, THA vs URU, MEX vs BRA

Consolation Round
0930 COK vs KEN 
1830 COK vs SEN

Women’s Competition

Main Round Group I
1110 BRA vs NED, FRA vs GER, THA vs CHN
1650 FRA vs NED, BRA vs CHN,  THA vs GER

Main Round Group II
1200 HUN vs ESP, SEN vs URU, TUN vs CRO
1740 HUN vs URU, SEN vs CRO, TUN vs ESP

Consolation Round
0930 MEX vs KEN
1740 MEX vs BUL