From 24-29 July 2018, 16 men’s and women’s teams each will take to the sand in Kazan, Russia to compete for the title of beach handball world champions.

 

As of today, the final list of participants is complete, as the women’s teams of France and the USA as well as the men’s teams from Denmark and New Zealand were confirmed as substitute nations for the teams from the continent of Africa, which did not organise a continental qualification event.

 

According to the competition regulations for the 2018 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships, a continent loses one compulsory place if it failed to organise a continental qualification event. This place would be awarded to the continent of the fourth-ranked team at the 2016 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. In 2016, both host teams claimed fourth place. Therefore, the places went to Europe and France were invited to take part in the women’s competition, while Ukraine were invited to participate in the men’s competition. However, Ukraine did not accept the invitation and Denmark, the second substitute nation from Europe, claimed the place.

 

For the remaining two places (one in each competition), the IHF Beach Handball Working Group proposed that the IHF Executive Committee awards wild cards. In view of the upcoming ANOC World Beach Games 2019 and the World Games 2021 – both of which will be hosted by the USA – the IHF Beach Handball Working Group proposed to award the wild card to the USA women’s team in order for them to get more competitive. Furthermore, they proposed to award a wild card to the men’s team of New Zealand to further strengthen the development of beach handball in Oceania. The IHF Executive Committee accepted those proposals.

 

The draw for the event will be staged on 15 May 2018 in Kazan.

 

2018 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships - Key facts

Dates: 24-29 July 2018

Host city/nation: Kazan (Russia)

Participating teams:

Men’s competition – ARG, AUS, BRA, CRO, DEN, ESP, HUN, IRI, NZL, OMA, QAT, RUS, SWE, URU, USA, VIE

Women’s competition – AUS, BRA, DEN, ESP, FRA, GRE, MEX, NOR, PAR, POL, RUS, THA, TPE, URU, USA, VIE