The scientific panorama of beach handball: A scoping review

As a relatively new sport, beach handball has reached international recognition and participation, yet remains underexplored in academic research. This scoping review aims to map the scientific literature on beach handball, identify key thematic areas and research gaps, and evaluate comparative studies with indoor handball. A total of 414 studies were initially retrieved across five databases in November/2024, of which 72 met the eligibility criteria and were included following the Prisma-ScR screening process. The analysis revealed a predominance of publications in English, a concentration of studies between 2018 and 2022 (53 studies; 73.6% of total), and a strong focus on high-performance athletes. Research themes have been centered on training, tactics, physiology, and performance, with limited investigation into psychology, injury prevention, pedagogy, and youth training. A few studies have compared beach and indoor handball. This study synthesized the scientific literature on beach handball, highlighting a growing but theoretically uneven field and the need to translate emerging evidence into sport-specific training practices. The findings underscore the need for broader and more diverse research efforts, particularly in underrepresented areas like psychology, sports injuries, youth development, and teaching methodologies, to support the continued development of beach handball as both a competitive and an educational sport.