The 2025 EHF Men’s and Women’s European Beach Handball Championships took place on Oba Beach in Alanya, Türkiye last week (8 to 13 July) with Spain’s women and Germany’s men winning gold.
Officially called the ‘EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025’, the 2025 event was the 14th edition of the continental championships.
Featuring 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams, all with hopes of winning continental medals, the event also saw qualification spots up for grabs for the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships which will be held in Croatia next year.
‘A winning mix of youth and experience’ – this is not only the best phrase to describe the Spanish women’s team title win in Alanya, but the last four weeks in Spanish beach handball.
Six medals in six competitions over the past four weeks has seen Spain’s beach handball teams dominate the international competition calendar in 2025.
Gold medals in both the 2025 IHF Men’s and Women’s Youth Beach Handball World Championships in Tunisia in June were followed up by the Spanish women taking gold in the EURO youth earlier this month and their men winning silver.
And in Türkiye on Sunday (13 July) Spain’s women made it a female treble with another gold as they defeated Norway 2-1 (20:24, 28:16, SO 9:6) to win their first-ever women’s continental title.
Coach Juan Pablo Morillo’s side came from behind to win the second set strongly, led by Mariam Gonzalez, Jimena Laguna and impressive goalkeeping from Patricia Encinas, Encinas causing the Norwegians, through Cornelia Haugen, to hit the post, setting up competition MVP Sara Hernandez with the single point to seal the continental title.
“I’m excited. It’s a dream. We have worked a lot and we are so happy for this win,” said Spain’s Mariam Gonzalez to eurohandball.com. “The plan was changing during the game, because they are a good, good team, but, finally, we won. We are so happy and we are excited. We are in a dream.”
The path to gold was not a smooth one for the Spanish, but they will not mind about that.
Two 2-0 wins, against Ukraine (14:6, 24:22) and Slovakia (22:14, 26:18) ensured a main round spot, but they ended the preliminary stage with a loss against Hungary, 0-2 (14:15, 18:19). This was followed with another loss, against Netherlands 0-2 (16:20, 22:27) in their main round opener, but Morillo got his side back on track with two 2-0 wins, against Sweden (22:8, 16:8) and Greece (16:14, 21:12).
This ensured qualification through to the last eight, where France were dispatched 2-0 (20:18, 15:14). A rematch against the Dutch in the semi-final saw an improved Spanish side ease to a 2-0 (21:18, 22:20) victory to ensure they did not add to their collection of the three previous bronze EURO medals (2017, 2021, 2023).
“I’m just so proud of the girls,” said Norway’s Elisabeth Hammerstad to eurohandball.com. “I don’t think anyone thought that we could be here, so we are really proud and we are happy that we were here. Of course we wanted to give Spain a harder second half, but we showed that we actually have a team that people should count on.”
Germany’s women proved to be human after all in Türkiye, their incredible gold medal-winning streak of taking the past five major international championships – EURO (2021, 2023), World Championship (2022, 2024) and The World Games (2022) – coming to an end after losing to Norway in the semi-finals 2-0 (17:14, 20:18).
They ended with bronze, with Isabel Kattner playing a key role in their 2-1 shoot-out (23:18, 18:20, SO 10:8) win over the Netherlands in a rematch of the 2023 EURO final. After both teams missed in the first round of shots, Kattner drew a foul on her own attack, allowing Belen Gettwart to score the resulting penalty shot.
“It was a tough fight; ultimately, we won the game again on defence, giving the offence the confidence it needed,” said Gettwart to handball.net. “We’ll be celebrating all night.”
Spain’s gold was an improvement on their bronze from 2023, while Norway’s silver saw them jump up from fifth spot. France, like their men’s side, considerably improved, shooting up from 13th in 2023 to eighth this time around, while Portugal dropped down to 10th after their fourth-place two years ago.
Germany’s men went one better than last time out, at the 2023 EURO in Portugal, claiming gold in Alanya after seeing off Spain in a tense shoot-out. It was their first gold and third overall medal in the competition, after taking their first silver – also in Alanya – in 2004.
The gold medal shoot-out went to a second round of shots after both sides missed a shot in the first. After six rounds, it was 10:10 and with Germany going first, Severin Henrich opened the seventh round with a strike to put the pressure on Mario Miranda Sirvent for Spain – who had seen Adria Ortola receive a red card in the previous round.
But his attempted dink over Germany goalkeeper Oliver Middell bounced off the line and away from the goal with the shot-stopper simply palming away the loose ball to confirm the first European title for the German men.
“I can’t believe it right now. It’s amazing. We have such a young team,” said Germany’s Robin John to eurohandball.com. “It was a tough game, but in the end, we have good goalkeepers and we won this game. I don’t realise it yet.”
The result was an improvement for the Germans on their silver medal last time out, in Portugal in 2023.
“We were in the game for a long time in the first half, but ultimately missed a few chances. We knew we were playing well and simply had to win things in the second round, and we didn’t let ourselves get flustered,” said Germany coach Marten Franke to handball.net.
“In the shoot-out, we had the necessary self-confidence; we had already beaten the Spanish in the same way in the world championship quarter-finals last year, so we had a good feeling.
“It’s incredible that we managed it,” he added. “With some last-minute changes, it wasn’t necessarily expected this year, so great respect and a huge compliment to each and every one of my players.”
On their way to topping the podium, Germany’s men lost just once and conceded just three sets in the process. Their preliminary group campaign saw three 2-0 wins against Czechia (26:14, 26:10), Türkiye (18:16, 20:16) and Portugal (23:22, 26:20) before 2-0 main round victories against Poland (26:20, 30:18) and Denmark (26:18, 21:20), their sole defeat coming against current The World Games and World Championship holders – and four-time EURO winners – Croatia 1-2 (20:26, 22:13, SO 8:10).
A quarter-final win against Italy 2-0 (22:20, 27:20) then set up a semi-final match-up and chance for revenge against Croatia, which Morten Franke’s team did, seeing off Mladen Paradzic’s side 2-1 (18:26, 22:20, SO 7:6), thanks to a Robin John single pointer and two saves from Mortiz Erbert.
“My team now is very sad. It’s logical,” said Spain coach Juan Vazquez to eurohandball.com. “But tomorrow, we will be very happy.”
Croatia managed to bounce back to take bronze, seeing off 2023 title-holders Hungary via shoot-out (9:8) after Hungary’s Andras John hit the post, allowing Ivan Dumencic to score in the last shot of the first round.
“We have that winning mentality and that’s why mostly we go out as winners on shoot-outs,” said Croatia’s Ivan Dumencic to eurohandball.com “I’m happy that even though it’s not gold, it’s a medal.”
Spain’s silver was an improvement on their fifth place last time, while Croatia moved up from seventh in 2023.
Away from the medal matches, it was an historic event for the France men’s team – and overall successful championships for the nation – as ‘Les Bleus’ not only secured a fifth-placed rank to better their 13th in 2023, but qualified for their first-ever IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in the process.
Their epic 17:16 win over Portugal in the 5/6 placement match (2-1, 14:21, 15:14, SO 17:16) ensured they can now book their tickets to Croatia 2026 for the global event in Zagreb next year, where they will also be joined by fellow debutants Italy, who booked their spot thanks to their eighth-placed finish.
“I am very proud of the work done by the team and very happy with this result,” said France coach Paul Mourioux to the FFHB website, with his captain, Alexis Gilme, adding: “It is truly the fruit of an immense collective effort and I also count the absentees, who have worked on this season and sometimes on those that preceded it. There is no doubt that this collective will continue to move forward in the months and years to come.”
Despite not winning any games or sets, Alanya was also a big success for Malta, whose hard work behind-the-scenes in recent years developing the sport saw them make their continental debut in Türkiye, a valuable experience in their pursuit of becoming a regular on the international stage, just like Czechia, who managed to record a 14th place finish.
With the help of an online voting system for fans, the best players were selected for the EURO All-star Teams.
Men’s competition
MVP: Pablo Martin Ruiz (Spain)
Best goalkeeper: Oliver Middell (Germany)
Best defender: Valentino Valentakovic (Croatia)
Top scorer: Lucian Bura (Croatia) — 143 points
Fair play award: Czechia
Women’s competition
MVP: Sara Hernandez (Spain)
Best goalkeeper: Lisanne Bakker (Netherlands)
Best defender: Elisabeth Hammerstad (Norway)
Top scorer: Meike Kruijer (Netherlands) — 148 points
Fair play award: Poland
10 of the teams at the EURO will now shift their focus to The World Games Chengdu 2025 in China next month, with the men’s and women’s teams of Spain, Germany, Denmark, Croatia and Portugal all competing on the sand at the global multisport event.
EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025
Results – Final Day
Men’s competition
Gold Medal Match: Germany vs Spain 2-1 (18:22, 23:19, SO 12:10)
Bronze Medal Match: Croatia vs Hungary 2-1 (26:16, 28:30, SO 9:8)
5/6 Placement: France vs Portugal 2-1 (14:21, 15:14, SO 17:16)
7/8 Placement: Italy vs Denmark 0-2 (18:25, 12:21)
9/10 Placement: Türkiye vs Norway 1-2 (14:19, 22:18, SO 8:10)
11/12 Placement: Poland vs Sweden 2-0 (28:22, 22:16)
13/14 Placement: Bulgaria vs Czechia 2-1 (22:28, 22:18 SO 10:2)
15/16 Placement: Ukraine vs Malta 2-0 (30:14, 26:18)
Women’s competition
Gold Medal Match: Norway vs Spain 1-2 (24:20, 16:28, SO 6:9)
Bronze Medal Match: Germany vs Netherlands 2-1 (23:18, 18:20, SO 10:8)
5/6 Placement: Greece vs Denmark 0-2 (13:20, 16:19)
7/8 Placement: Hungary vs France 2-1 (16:18, 21:16, SO 9:6)
9/10 Placement: Portugal vs Sweden 1-2 (16:19, 19:16, SO 6:9)
11/12 Placement: Poland vs Ukraine 2-1 (20:21, 18:14, SO 8:4)
13/14 Placement: Croatia vs Türkiye 2-1 (21:22, 18:16, SO 6:4)
15/16 Placement: Slovakia vs Bulgaria 2-0 (28:16, 22:16)
Final Rankings
Men’s competition
1 Germany*
2 Spain*
3 Croatia**
4 Hungary*
5 France*
6 Portugal*
7 Denmark*
8 Italy*
9 Norway
10 Türkiye
11 Poland
12 Sweden
13 Bulgaria
14 Czechia
15 Ukraine
16 Malta
Women’s competition
1 Spain*
2 Norway*
3 Germany***
4 Netherlands*
5 Denmark*
6 Greece*
7 Hungary
8 France
9 Sweden
10 Portugal
11 Poland
12 Ukraine
13 Croatia****
14 Türkiye
15 Slovakia
16 Bulgaria
*Qualified for the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships
**Qualified for the 2026 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship as hosts and title-holders
*** Qualified for the 2026 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship as title-holders
****Qualified for the 2026 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship as hosts
Photo credit: EHF / Kolektiff