Portugal’s development programme prioritises children under ten

The Portuguese Handball Federation set children’s participation at the centre of its EHF Master Plan project. Its assessment identified limited primary-school exposure, relatively late entry into organised handball and a narrow registered-player base among children younger than ten.

The programme aims for annual increases of twenty-five per cent among six-to-eight-year-olds and fifteen per cent among nine-to-ten-year-olds. The stated longer-term targets would raise those groups from 793 to 1,586 players and from 1,660 to 2,490 respectively.

Club and school cooperation forms the practical route towards those goals. Interventions began in January 2025, including handball classes during physical education and enrichment activities. The February report presented this grassroots approach alongside the national teams’ recent progress at senior and youth level.