Poland and Hungary take Beach Handball Championship titles

Poland defeated previously unbeaten Sweden in the men’s final, after overcoming France in the semi-finals played earlier on Sunday, where Sweden beat Norway. France recovered from the semi-final loss to clinch the bronze medal, while it ended up being two extremely close losses that saw Norway place fourth, just missing out on the silverware.

In the women’s competition, Hungary and France reached the trophy match with strong semi-final wins over Ukraine and Sweden, respectively. In the final, Hungary extended a superb run through the competition, which saw them drop only one set in the whole four days, and beat France 2:0. Sweden joined France in celebrating two medals at the championship when they beat Ukraine in the women's 3/4 placement game.

Men’s competition:

• in the final against Sweden, Poland recovered from a lost first set and celebrated the title after a shootout, for a final result of 2:1 (24:27; 25:20; 10:8). Sweden had won both sets against Poland in the preliminary round
• France secured the bronze medal after a shootout against Norway, 2:1 (16:17; 17:16; 9:8)
• in the semi-final stage, Sweden needed a shootout to defeat their neighbours Norway 2:1 (22:24; 30:24; 11:10), while, although it was far from a one-sided clash, Poland beat France by winning both sets (23:20; 20:18)
• behind the top four, the final ranking has hosts Bulgaria in fifth — after they won the 5/6 play-off against Ukraine 2:1 (14:28; 20:18; 8:6). Positions seven to 10 were decided in a round-robin consolation group, with Italy taking seventh ahead of Czechia, Türkiye and Malta
• Italy were undefeated in the consolation round, while Malta leave Bulgaria with only losses behind them
• the top scorer of the tournament was Sweden’s Petter Brandt, with 159 points following 82 goals; France’s Robin Kerdudo recorded 70 saves to top this ranking
• all the men’s teams were already qualified for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025 ahead of the competition in Varna, in contrast to the women’s sides at the Beach Handball Championship 2024. They have joined Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Spain and Portugal in the line-up for next year's event

Women’s competition:

• Hungary powered to victory in the final, beating France 2:0 (19:16; 26:24) to cap an outstanding tournament for the side
• Hungary and France both enjoyed 2:0 victories in the semi-finals, although they were vastly different matches — France very narrowly defeated Ukraine (20:19; 23:22), while Hungary were dominant against Sweden (30:12; 23:12)
• after losses in Saturday’s quarter-finals, four teams contested the 5–8 placement matches: Croatia defeated Poland and Slovakia won against Bulgaria in the first round, after which Croatia beat Slovakia to secure fifth and Poland took seventh place thanks to a victory over Bulgaria
• the consolation round in the women’s competition looked very similar to the men’s, with Italy topping that 9–12 placement group, played in a round-robin format, ahead of Türkiye, Czechia and Switzerland
• Poland's Alicja Slezak was the top scorer of the Beach Handball Championship 2024, with 138 points earned through 71 goals, while Hungary's Ramóna Vártók made the most saves, 72
• the eight top-ranked teams — the Beach Handball Championship 2024 quarter-finalists — have qualified for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025, securing their places on Saturday. Those are Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Sweden, France, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Slovakia
• the eight newly qualified teams join Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Portugal as the contestants for the EURO next year

Photos: EHF/MSV Photographers