The final day of the record-setting Jarun Cup 2025 has completed on the shores of Lake Jarun in Zagreb, Croatia with Portuguese side GRD Leca – Spar and Hungarian team Multichem Szentendrei NKE taking the men’s and women’s senior titles respectively.
48 senior teams competed over the four-day event, which featured nearly 800 players across a number of different age categories.
“It paid off” – Hungarians upset the Dutch dominance and take women’s title
With three Dutch sides making up the final four teams in Zagreb, the possibility of a Netherlands’ victory was 75%, but Hungarian team Multichem Szentendrei NKE decided to upset the odds, taking down KRAS Volendam 2-0 (28:20, 20:14), with Tekla Farkas top-scoring on 16 points.
“The atmosphere was great, I didn’t expect such a big win and thought it would be much harder,” said Multichem’s Emese Szilvia Tóth after the game. “Even though we were tired, we kept our concentration and I’m happy about that. We didn’t prepare any special tactics for our opponents, but each player gave their best and it paid off.”
After dominating the group stage, last year’s winners Westsite Amsterdam were strong favourites in the bronze medal match, against country rivals Hiekka Hauskaa, but in a tense end to the game, Hiekka took the shoot-out victory, thank to Amsterdam missing three of their four shots, winning 2-1 (22:21, 16:17, SO 6:2). Hiekka’s Lisa de Wolf top-scored on 16 points.
“We lost the semi-final because we weren’t focused enough,” explained Hiekka’s Stacey de Vries. “We tried to calm down for this one, and then we played well. We know how much time we have and that we need to make the most of every moment. We took a break, got together, came to an agreement and with mutual trust we managed to win. Although we were hoping for the final, I think we can be satisfied with this result.”
In the morning session, the first semi-final saw KRAS Volendam, the Netherland-American team set-up by USA international Christine Mansour beat Dutch rivals Hiekka Hauskaa 2-0. A tight 20:19 first set win made way for a 21:16 clear second set win with Robin van der Slikke on fire on the Zagreb sand, scoring 26 points.
Defending champions Westsite Amsterdam were knocked out of contention after Multichem Szentendrei NKE defeated them 2-0 (15:11, 18:16) in the semi-finals with Tekla Farkas (11 points) and Andrea Feldhoffer (12) doing the damage.
Blue Team, the U17 Italian national team, who are using the Jarun Cup to prepare for their European Championship coming up in July, recorded their first win in the senior competition, defeating BHT Bielsko-Biala Young. The Italian side also competed in the 2008 category competition in Jarun.
Portuguese title-holders retain their crown, seeing off Danes after clear first set
2024 title-holders GRD Leca – Spar went all the way again at the Jarun Cup, taking the 2025 edition after a 2-0 (19:12, 22:20) win over Danish side HEI Beachhandball.
The two teams had met two days ago in the preliminary group stage, with the Danes taking a 2-0 win, but with just four scorers, the Portuguese focused their goalscoring efforts and were deadly with Pablo Caro and Manu Rado ending on top with 12 points each.
“It took a lot of effort to win this tournament,” said GRD’s Vasco Nogueira. “There were a lot of great teams and the competition has never been stronger. I think it was the attitude and partnership that led us to gold. We all played great, but the best today was Manu Rado, who led the team.”
Swedish side Goteborg BHC ensured no home side would take home a senior medal the Jarun Cup 2025, with a 2-1 (25:20, 16:23, SO 9:6) victory of BHC Harena, Victor Paladanius and Tim Jovic both scoring 18 points.
“It was a tough game; it’s always tough against the Croats,” said Paldanius after the game. “Both teams had good defences with great goalkeepers, so it was a low-scoring game. We were better in the first set and they were better in the second. In the end, when it came to the shoot-out, we were a little better again and, luckily, we won.”
The semi-finals, held earlier in the morning, saw HEI Beachhandball defeat BHC Harena 2-0 (24:20, 34:20) with Danish national team players Mikkel Just (28 points) and 2024 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship All-star Team member, Simon Moss (26 points) do the damage.
GRD Leca – Spar were more impressive in their semi-final win, seeing off Goteborg BHC 2-0 (25:16, 17:12) with six players from the Portuguese side all making their mark despite the best efforts of Sweden’s men’s team player Jesper Knutsson, who scored 14 points.
The final day also saw the conclusion of the remaining younger age categories, with men’s 2012 generation coach of RK Brezice 2, Klemen Mlakar content with the ending.
“We played as we agreed, even though the game was pretty tense,” said the Slovenian coach about their final clash against RK Slovenj Gradec 2011 which they won 2-0 (14:12, 10:8). “We were lucky that the opposing team was playing on sand for the first time, so they didn’t score many goals for two points. Everything worked out for us and we deserved to win.”
Final Rankings – Jarun Cup 2025
Men’s senior competition
1 GRD Leca – Spar (POR)
2 HEI Beachhandball (DEN)
3 Goteborg BHC (SWE)
4 BHC Harena (CRO)
5 Aarhus Beach (DEN)
6 Hiekka Hauskaa (NED)
7 BHC Dubrava (CRO)
8 Chemo-Profili Zagreb (CRO)
9 SC Squadra Buda (HUN)
10 Beach Handball Tilburg (NED)
11 Gyor (HUN)
12 Nordlicher U18 (GER)
13 EFE Tigres Level (POR)
14 BHC Zagreb (CRO)
15 Plasroal Balonmano Playa Alcalá (ESP)
16 White Boys (CRO)
17 Alba Fehérvár (HUN)
18 BHC Student (SRB)
19 BHC Langoše (SVK)
20 BHC Harena 2 (CRO)
21 Boys in Green (IRL)
22 AKRP Zagreb (CRO)
23 BHT Mamba (POL)
24 BHC Harena 3 (CRO)
Women’s senior competition
1 Multichem Szentendrei NKE (HUN)
2 KRAS Volendam (NED)
3 Hiekka Hauskaa (NED)
4 Westsite Amsterdam (NED)
5 OVB Beach Girls (HUN)
6 BHC Zagreb (CRO)
7 London GD (GBR)
8 BHD Dubrava (CRO)
9 Sweden (SWE)
10 KS AZS AWF Warszawa (POL)
11 Red Velvet BHC (HUN)
12 Copenhagen Beach (DEN)
13 Venice Beach Girls (HUN)
14 Kanonierky (SVK)
15 Beach Handball Tilburg (NED)
16 Plasroal Balonmano Playa Alcala (ESP)
17 Chemo-Profili Zagreb (CRO)
18 BHC Harena (CRO)
19 Goteburg BHC (SWE)
20 BHT Bielsko-Biala (POL)
21 Furki Sport (CRO)
22 Beach Beaurepaire (FRA)
23 Blue Team (ITA)
24 BHT Bielsko-Biala Young (POL)
Younger age categories
Men’s 2008
1 Nordlichter U18 (GER)
2 BHC Dubrava (CRO)
3 RK Dobova (SLO)
Women’s 2008
1 Furki Sport (CRO)
2 Blue Team (ITA)
3 Adria (CRO)
Men’s 2010
1 RK Dobova (SLO)
2 BHC DK (CRO)
3 BHT Bielsko-Biala (POL)
4 RK Drenak (CRO)
Women’s 2010
1 BHT Bielsko-Biala (POL)
2 UKS Olimpijczyk Kowalewo Pomorskie (POL)
3 Furki Sport (CRO)
4 RK Zabok (CRO)
Men’s 2012
1 RK Brežice 2
2 RK Dobova
3 RK Slovenj Gradec 2011
4 Mlade nade
5 RK Brežice
6 Freesolar
Women’s 2012
1 Venice Beach Girls U11 B
2 RK Brežice
3 Venice Beach Girls U11
4 Furki Sport
5 BHC Harena
Men’s 2014
1 RK Dobova (SLO)
2 BHC Harena (CRO)
3 BHC Harena 2 (CRO)
For all the Jarun Cup 2025 results, visit https://results.jaruncup.com.
Quotes: Tea Šeparović
Pictures: Paweł Jakubowski/PAWI.PL