The Puerto Rican beach handball community have had a whirlwind four weeks. 

Firstly, their women’s youth team became the first ever from the country to appear at an IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship, at the youth event in Greece in June.

The New Zealand men come to Birmingham as continental champions after winning the Oceania Continent Handball Federation (OCHF) Men’s Oceania Beach Handball Championships in April. 
 
New Zealand broke the stranglehold of the Aussie men on Oceania sand, winning the series 2-1 to register their first-ever continental crown.

Are Croatia the new Brazil? 

Croatia coach Mladen Paradzik will certainly be hoping so. With 2022 potentially the year that his new world champions finally knock Brazil off of their perch as the undisputed best men’s beach handball team in the world.

While his side did not face their South American rivals on their way to the 2022 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship gold last month, their gold medal signals a step up from silver medals in recent years.

What can be said about the Brazilian men’s team which has not been said already? They have won everything there is to win in the game.

When it comes to The World Games they are unparalleled. 

They are the only team – now the Brazilian women’s team have not qualified for Birmingham 2022 – to have qualified for every single edition of the event from when it was a demonstration sport in 2001, to when it became a full competition sport in 2013 in Colombia and the two events since.