Semi-finals await at Beach Handball Championship 2024

Alongside the women’s competition semi-finalists, Croatia, Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia have reason to celebrate as the eight sides have qualified for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025. In the men’s competition, all 10 teams contesting the event in Bulgaria were already sure of places at the EURO, while the women’s squads entered the Beach Handball Championship with qualification at stake, and the eight top-ranked sides to proceed.

After three days of competition, both the men’s and women’s tournaments look ahead to the semi-finals and finals as well as the last placement games on Sunday, all streamed live on EHFTV. 

Women’s competition:

• Ukraine will meet France and Hungary will take on Sweden in the semi-finals on Sunday morning, both to be played at 10:00 CEST and streamed live on EHFTV. The finals will follow in the afternoon, with the 3/4 placement match at 15:00 CEST and the trophy game at 17:00 CEST
• all four semi-finalists took commanding wins in their quarter-final, beating their opponents 2:0 — Hungary defeated Croatia (24:14; 14:12), Sweden won against Poland (18:16; 23:19), France knocked out hosts Bulgaria (25:14; 21:16), and Ukraine eliminated Slovakia (24:14; 28:20)
• Hungary have the best record, dropping only one set on the path to the semi-finals as they required a shootout to beat France in a tight preliminary round encounter (21:18; 22:23; 9:8). Hungary topped group B ahead of France, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy and Czechia, in that order, meaning three of the four semi-finalists came through the same preliminary round
• Ukraine won group A in a tight race against Poland, as both teams secured the same number of points (eight), but Ukraine won the mutual clash between the sides on Saturday (21:18; 25:20) so clinched first place. Behind second-ranked Poland on the group A table were Bulgaria, Croatia, Türkiye and Switzerland
• Switzerland and Czechia were the only teams not to win a set in the preliminary round, while all other sides took at least three, but Czechia had their first taste of victory in the 9–12 consolation round when they beat Switzerland (22:6; 23:10)
• the 5–8 cross matches and last games of the 9–12 consolation round will also take place on Sunday
• Poland’s Alicja Slezak is the top scorer of the competition so far, on 96 points after scoring 49 goals, while Hungary’s Ramóna Vártók has made the most saves, 55

Men’s competition:

• Poland will play France and Sweden will meet Norway in the semi-finals on Sunday at 9:00 CEST, after the four sides topped the main round group featuring the six best-ranked teams progressed from the preliminary round. The 3/4 placement match will be played at 14:00 CEST and the final at 16:00 CEST
• with the men’s competition following a different format from the women’s, the three top-ranked sides in each preliminary round group made it to the main round: Sweden, Poland and Ukraine from group A and France, Norway and Bulgaria in group B
• the final ranking of the main round group, which decided the semi-finalists, was Sweden, Poland, France, Norway, Ukraine and Bulgaria
• both preliminary group winners, Sweden and France, dropped only one set in that stage. Sweden have yet to lose a match, as they won all main round encounters to carry on their perfect preliminary round record. France were unbeaten until they faced Poland in their second main round game and lost on a shootout (22:16; 12:15; 10:12)
• Czechia narrowly missed a main round place from competitive group B, as they finished in a three-way tie with Norway and Bulgaria, on four points apiece. Norway beat Czechia 2:1, Bulgaria defeated Norway with the same result, and Czechia took a 2:1 result versus Bulgaria, so Czechia only very closely lost out
• Türkiye, Italy, Czechia and Malta started the 7–10 consolation round on Saturday and will finish on Sunday morning. Czechia and Italy both won their two games in this round on Saturday, while Türkiye and Malta are left waiting for their first wins in this stage
• the top scorer of the men’s tournament is Sweden’s Petter Brandt, with 113 points after 58 goals, and Ukraine’s Nazar Chudinov has made the most saves, with 52

Photos: EHF/MSV Photographers