IHF | Denmark and Portugal teams reign supreme at 2024 EHF ...

After four days of action on the Portuguese sand in Porto Santo, the 2024 winners of the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup are now known with ‘The Danish Beachhandball Dream’ and ‘GRD Leca – Spar’ taking the women’s and men’s titles respectively.

Both finals were decided by shoot-out with the Danish women retaining their 2023 title and host nation team GRD Leça – Spar defeating men’s 2023 winners Rødby Beach Boys in the finals.

They won their first seven games – three preliminary round, three main round and a quarter-final – without dropping a set, against BHT Conkret Byczki Kowalewo Pomorskie (POL), Red Velvet BHC (HUN), AD IA Sports (POR), Escola de Formacao de Espinho – Os Tigres (POR), Team Normandie (FRA), Beach Unicorns Hannover (GER) and London GB (GBR). They then saw off GRD Leca – Love Tiles (POR) 2-1 in the semi-final before the exciting final win over CATS A.M. Team Almeria from Spain, and who featured numerous Spanish national team players.

“We were playing better and better throughout the tournament and I'm very proud of the girls,” said The Danish Beachhandball Dream coach Morten Frandsen Holmen to eurohandball.com. “I'm also proud to come out and show Danish Beach Handball like this [as] it's important to get young players to join.”

“To win gold is just perfect,” added player Frida Nygaard Ulrichsen. “I was coming here hoping to defend the title, but with the new team and the new players, who haven't been so much together, it was hard [but] we learned how to play with each other, and it turned out perfect.”

China 2024 IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship All-star Team member and best right wing Meike Kruijer (NED) helped her Black Lake Beach side, featuring fellow Dutch national team members, defeat GRD Leca - Love Tiles for bronze.

On their way to gold, they dropped just two sets – both against the reigning champions, Danish side Rodby Beach Boys. In the preliminary round, they defeated BHT Petra Plock (POL), BMP Algeciras (ESP) and BHV Wasserschloss (SUI) each 2-0, before seeing off Occitanie Beach Team (FRA) and Damy Rade Inowroclaw (POL) 2-0 in the main round, with a 2-1 defeat of the Danes ending their main round campaign.

The knock-out stages saw 2-0 victories against Hungarian side Hir-Sat BHC in the quarter-finals and Nazare BHT (POR) in the semi-final, before that shoot-out win in the final against the Danish side.

With a strong defence, led by goalkeeper Ricardo Castro, and attack, led by the legendary Croatian, Ivan Juric, GRD Leca – Spar saw off the Danish challenge of a team featuring numerous national team players – led by Martin Vilstrup Andersen and coached by women’s national team coach Morten Holmen and men’s assistant coach Martin Hjortshoj, assisted by women’s national team player Ann Cecilie Moller.

“Defence always wins championships and all our strategy starts in defence,” said GRD Leca – Spar coach Pedro Pereira to eurohandball.com. “It was not a very good day in attack, but the defence won the match.”

“There are no words to describe this feeling,” added GRD Leca – Spar’s Castro, who was part of the China 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship All-star Team.

“It's the trophy we have been chasing for many years. It's been a long year, and what better way to finish the competition but with a gold medal. We have a lot of experienced players and we had a really nice preparation for this tournament.”

Juric and Andersen had gone up against each other in the 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship final in China earlier this summer with Juric also winning that duel.

Host nation fans saw Nazare BHT – featuring Brazilian legend Bruno Carlos de Oliveira – take home bronze, defeating Polish side Damy Rade Inowroclaw 2-1.

Women’s Competition
MVP: Meike Kruijer (Black Lake Beach) 
Goalkeeper: Paula Vera (CATS A.M. Team Almeria)
Best defender: Johanne Uhrhammer (The Danish Beachhandball Dream) 
Top scorer: Sara Pinho (GRD Leca - Love Tiles / 132 points)
Fair Play: Multichem Szentendrei NKE 

Men’s Competition
MVP: Ivan Juric (GRD Leca - Spar) 
Goalkeeper: Ricardo Castro (GRD Leça - Spar)
Best defender: Francisco Santos (Nazare BHT)
Top scorer: Jakob Merrild (Aarhus Beach / 170 points) 
Fair Play: BHV Wasserschloss and Beach Stars BHC

Final Ranking

Women’s Competition
1 DEN The Danish Beachhandball Dream
2 ESP CATS A.M. Team Almeria
3 NED Black Lake Beach
4 POR GRD Leca - Love Tiles
5 POR AD IA Sports
6 POL BHT Conkret Byczki Kowalewo Pomorskie
7 GER Beach Unicorns Hannover
8 GBR London GD
9 POR Escola de Formacao de Espinho - Os Tigres
10 GER Sand Devils Youngsters
11 FRA Team Normandie
12 NOR IF Tyristubben
13 HUN Multichem Szentendrei NKE
14 HUN Red Velvet BHC
15 DEN Team WON
16 SUI Wasserschloss Beachqueens

Men’s Competition
1 POR GRD Leca - Spar
2 DEN Rodby Beach Boys
3 POR Nazare BHT
4 POL Damy Rade Inowroclaw
5 DEN Aarhus Beach
6 HUN Hir-Sat BHC
7 POR Escola de Formação de Espinho - Os Tigres / Level
8 ESP BMP Algeciras
9 GER 12Monkeys Köln
10 POL BHT Petra Plock
11 GER BHC Sand Devils Minden
12 FRA Occitanie Beach Team
13 NED Hiekka Hauskaa
14 HUN Beach Stars BHC
15 GBR London Beach Handball
16 SUI BHV Wasserschloss

About the EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup

The EHF Beach Handball Champions Cup is open to all European National Federation Beach Handball club champions. The host nation is permitted one wild card team per gender, while the reigning champions from the previous edition automatically qualify too. Second-ranked teams from each nation can also be registered as substitute teams and will be allocated a place if spots are available.