No team at China 2024 – either men’s or women’s – have had a longer gap between their first IHF Beach Handball World Championship and second one than the German men.

Exactly 18 years ago the German men made their debut at Brazil 2006 in Rio de Janeiro, finishing eighth on the South American side. Little did they know that the focus in Germany would shift away from the sport and it would be two more decades before they returned to the global sand.

Greece 2022 represented an historic moment for Danish beach handball, with the national team winning their first-ever IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship medal.

Denmark had arrived in Heraklion as 2021 European Championship winners having beaten Croatia in the final 12 months earlier – their second, successive continental title.

However, on the Heraklion sand, Croatia got revenge, winning 0-2 and the Danish men settled for silver, to follow in the footsteps of their women’s side who also won world championship silver (in 2010 and 2012).

“It is a great honour and responsibility for us to be back at an IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship as this is Croatia's 10th participation and we have never missed one,” said Croatia coach Mladen Paradžik to ihf.info ahead of China 2024.

Croatia have medalled in six of those nine championships, most recently picking up gold at Greece 2022, which qualified them directly to China 2024. They also come to Pingtan as reigning The World Games champions from 2022.

The Australian men return to IHF Beach Handball World Championship action after losing their qualification spot to New Zealand last time out, for Greece 2022.

And they have had to wait over a year for the chance after qualifying way back in April 2023 at the 2023 Oceania Beach Handball Championships.

They secured their ticket by beating their neighbouring rivals in the final held on the Gold Coast’s Coolangatta Beach for the first time since the lifting of the then Covid-related travel restrictions.

The People’s Republic of China make their debut at an IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship after qualifying directly as hosts.

Relatively unknown on the international stage, China’s men have appeared in just one AHF Men’s Beach Handball Asian Championships, which took place last year.

In the continental event held in Bali, Indonesia, they opened up their campaign with a loss against the host nation via shoot-out (22:24, 20:17, SO 6:7) before picking up themselves to record a 2-0 (18:14, 21:14) victory over Hong Kong.