Stage set for exciting Beach Handball Championship in Bulgaria
The Men's and Women's Beach Handball Championship 2024 throws off in Varna, Bulgaria on 11 July, with the competition an important step on the way to the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025.
The competition, between Thursday 11 and Sunday 14 July, sees 12 women's and 10 men's teams take to the sand in Varna.
The top nine women's teams and all 10 of the men's teams will qualify for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2025, where they will join the teams which directly qualified for the EURO by reaching the IHF World Championship 2024. These are Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Portugal on the women's side, and Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Spain and Portugal on the men's.
The women's tournament will be played as a preliminary round of two groups of six teams, with the top four teams in each group progressing to the quarter-finals. The four quarter-final winners will play the semi-finals for a chance to lift the trophy, and there will also be placement matches to determine places 5 to 8.
The bottom two teams in each group will play a consolation round for places 9 to 12.
In the men's competition, the top three teams from each group of five will play a main round, with the top four teams from that round progressing to the semi-finals and the two bottom teams playing for places 5 and 6. The bottom four teams, like the women, will play the consolation round for places 7 to 10.
At the last Beach Handball Championship in 2022, Hungary beat Poland for the women's title, while Germany defeated Hungary in the men's final.
How to follow the Beach Handball Championship 2024
All matches at the Beach Handball Championship 2024 will be streamed live on EHFTV, with no geo-restrictions. There will also be coverage on the dedicated EHF beach handball Instagram page.
Match information and the schedules can be found on the competition pages for men and women.
Photo © Sasa Pahic Szabo / kolektiff
