Great Britain Men’s Handball: Emerging Nations Champions 2025
- léa
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
We had the chance to speak with Ben Tyler, Assistant Coach of the GB Men’s Handball Team, to learn more about the journey of Great Britain’s national teams, the state of handball in the country, and how the sport has evolved over the years. From rebuilding after the London 2012 Olympics to winning the 2025 IHF Emerging Nations Championship, British handball has taken huge strides forward. Ben shared his insights on the growth of the domestic system, the impact of national academies, and what this latest success means for the future of the sport in the UK.
Can you introduce yourself ?
I’m Ben Tyler, one of the current assistant coaches of the GB Men’s Handball Team. I represented Great Britain as a player from 2015 until January 2025, and was fortunate to be invited to join the backroom staff by our head coach, Ricardo Vasconceles, following my retirement.
Outside of handball, I work as a General Practitioner (Family Medicine Doctor), which has shaped my interest in using evidence-based approaches to support decision-making in sport.
Can you give us a little insight into Great British Handball ?
Over the past decade, Great Britain Men’s Handball has quietly but confidently rebuilt itself. When UK Sport funding was pulled after the London 2012 Olympics, the programme had to start again from scratch — self-funded, grassroots-driven, and powered by people who simply loved the game.
The 2015 IHF Emerging Nations Championship marked the beginning of that new chapter, with a squad made up of young UK-based players and a handful of former Olympians. Just two years later, in 2017, Ricardo Vasconcelos stepped in as interim head coach. At that point, only two players in the squad were playing abroad — the rest were training on limited resources at home.
Since then, handball in Britain has come a long way — both at the elite level and at grassroots.
One of the most important developments has been the launch of national academies — most notably the Elite Performance Academy (EPA) in Loughborough. It gives talented 16- and 17-year-olds the opportunity to train every day with top-level coaching, all while continuing their education. It’s helping close the gap between domestic talent and the high standards of European handball.
More and more British players are now moving abroad to play in countries like Germany, Portugal, and the Netherlands. In fact, the GB squad that won the 2025 Emerging Nations Championship had just three UK-based players — a complete reversal from a few years ago. More players are recognising that to reach the standard now required to represent GB, moving abroad to train and compete week in, week out is often necessary. But the domestic system is strengthening, and the pathway is becoming clearer.
The foundations being built at the elite level are also reflected across the wider programme. The women’s team is back competing at the highest level, having recently played in the Euro Championship first stage against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Estonia. At junior level, the GB Under-20s team won the IHF M20 Trophy in 2022 — a huge achievement — and four players from that squad went on to compete in this year’s Emerging Nations Championship. That kind of continuity and development is what makes long-term success possible.
Can you tell us more about the Emerging Nations Championship?
All of that work came together in March 2025, when the men’s team won the IHF Emerging Nations Championship — the biggest result in the modern era of GB handball. It followed strong performances in European qualifying, including topping the group in both Euro 2026 Phase 1 in Baku and Euro 2028 Phase 1 in Varna.
At the heart of this success is the team culture that Ricardo Vasconcelos has built over his eight years as head coach, alongside assistant coach Joao Castro. Coaching at this level requires not only tactical and technical excellence, but also the ability to build a team. Ricardo has done just that — creating a group of players who win and lose together, are open to feedback from each other, and continue to grow as a team. That culture is especially important for a squad that has limited time to train and be together — and it showed throughout the tournament.
How do you utilize technology in training and competition?
During the Emerging Nations 2025 tournament, I used the Steazzi application to collect live statistics, providing real-time insights to both staff and players—particularly useful for half-time adjustments.
For video analysis, we use the XPS platform, and we’re currently working with Steazzi on integrating live in-game data with XPS timestamps. This should streamline the process of tagging and reviewing key moments, reducing the amount of post-match clipping required by coaches.
We use XPS software to house our offensive and defensive models, which gives players—especially new additions to the squad—a clear visual reference for how we want to play. These clips are updated regularly and form the foundation of how we communicate our tactical approach. In the lead-up to competitions, we meet virtually as a squad to review these systems together, with coaches and players contributing to video analysis sessions. This shared understanding is crucial given how little time we have in person.
During competition, the value of this preparation really shows. We're able to use what we’ve already collated on XPS as a reference point and then layer in fresh clips from the current tournament. This helps us quickly highlight nuances—for example, why we might need to defend differently against a particular player or adjust our offensive structure based on how a team defends. It creates a dynamic feedback loop that has a noticeable impact on our in-game decision-making.
What are the next steps for GB Handball?
Next up is the EHF Promotion Round, where we look to continue climbing through the international ranks. We’re aiming to follow in the footsteps of former Emerging Nations champions like Georgia and the Faroe Islands, both of whom are now beating some of Europe’s traditionally stronger teams in Euro 2026 qualifiers.
This win has shown what’s possible, and now we keep building.
