Vote Now! IWGA Athlete of the Year 2019 - Brazil Men's Beach Handball

The Brazilian men’s beach handball team are one of 25 candidates from 25 sports competing in an online vote to win the prestigious ‘The World Games Athlete of the Year 2019’ award.

Voting opens today (Wednesday 8 January) and finishes at 15:00 (CET) on Thursday 30 January and fans of the all-conquering team can show their support for them, for beach handball, and handball in general by voting, following these steps:

1. Visit the IWGA voting page.

2. Go to the handball picture, which shows Brazil’s Nailson Amaral in flight, ready to shoot.

3. Click on ‘Vote’.

4. Then choose a second athlete in another sport and vote for them. Every person has to vote for two sports, with their first choice automatically receiving two votes, and their second choice one vote. This is to bring The World Games family closer to each other through introducing athletes to more than just their ‘own’ fans. If you try to give votes to one candidate only, the votes will not be registered.

5. The 10 candidates with the most votes by Monday, 20 January will then continue to compete against each other. The remaining 15 candidates will be out of contention.

6. Once you have voted, share your vote on your social media channels using the hashtag #beachhandball and tell all of your friends to vote for handball too.

You can vote once every 24 hours, so make sure you keep coming back to vote and show the world how much the sport is supported.

The World Games Athlete of the Year 2019 is the sixth time that the International World Games Association (IWGA) has run the award, which ‘honours an athlete or a team for their outstanding performance, or for their social commitment or particularly fair behaviour.’

The Brazilian men’s beach handball team have shown a commitment to the sport both on and off the court at all levels. In 2019 they won the debut edition of the ANOC World Beach Games in Doha, Qatar in October after going undefeated to win the 2019 South and Central America Beach Handball Championship.

In Doha, they defeated some of the world’s best teams to claim the gold including Croatia, Spain and Qatar. Throughout 2019, like normal, players and coaches from the Brazilian team worked across the world – online and in person – to provide support, advice, coaching and playing time to the entire beach handball family to help develop the sport globally.

Every time Brazil arrive at the arena for any competition the entire delegation play instruments and sing songs, encouraging anyone to join in and celebrate the carnival of the sport, but once they have crossed the line on to the sand, they are a well-oiled, focussed machine who have dominated the sports since its inception.

“We felt we had to win this competition as it was the first one and it was historic,” said Brazil specialist Bruno Carlos de Oliveira in Qatar, after scoring the winning point in the final shoot-out to secure gold.  

“This moment was spectacular,” he added. “We want to win and make history as nobody can beat you if you are first, even if you win it the second time. We are always looking for history.”

Last year, the Greece women’s beach handball team received more than 15,000 votes placing fifth for the 2018 award.

The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 15-25 July 2021. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in the Games.