“It is a great honour to play at Greece 2022 and we are very happy to be able to compete with opponents from other continents,” said Germany’s joint coach Frowin Fasold ahead of travelling to Heraklion.

“We want to present our beach handball style in the best possible way. We are confident going into the championship, but we have great respect for our opponents. Every game at this level is a big challenge.”

Handball historians may notice something familiar about the name of the coach of the France youth team – Mézuela Servier. She was a former France women’s captain and multiple winner of French and German domestic titles with her various clubs.

Servier continues the steady stream of former indoor players taking charge of the beach handball teams, after Valerie Nicolas led the French women’s team at the 2018 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship in Kazan, Russia.

Hungary, along with Argentina, look to be one of the favourites for the 2022 IHF Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championship title, with a stacked history of medals in such a short space of time since the discipline opened up to the younger-age categories at international championship level.

The Hungarian women come to Heraklion as title-holders of the World Championship, having won the debut edition in Mauritius back in 2017. Hungary beat then European champions Netherlands via a shoot-out (7:4) to take gold.