A total of 13 girls’ and boys’ teams from outside of Austria have already confirmed their registration for the 33rd International Schmelz Youth Tournament, taking place from August 28 to 30, 2026. This means that practically one in three of the 40 registered youth teams is coming from abroad – specifically from Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Croatia. In any case, the 2010 age category for both girls and boys will be playing at the Tellgasse sports hall in Vienna’s 15th district.
A boys’ team from Ukraine would like to participate, just as they did last year, but this depends on the war situation in their home country. The countdown for registration is only running for a short while longer, until this Friday, June 26.
WAT Fünfhaus, as the organizer and hosting club, is looking forward to welcoming numerous young international handball players to the Schmelz in the heart of Vienna again this year. The schedule for Friday, August 28, will be designed in such a way that teams from outside Vienna will have the opportunity to go sightseeing in the city. The tournament organization, led by Christoph Zeiml, has already taken special requests from individual teams regarding Friday’s match scheduling into account. As far as possible, they will also address such needs for teams that still wish to register, provided that the relevant requests are communicated before registration.
Regarding the six total age groups -birth years 2014, 2012, and 2010 for both girls and boys – the competition in the girls’ 2014 category is the largest based on the registrations received so far. Eight girls’ teams have registered there alone, including TJ Sokol Kobylisy II from Prague and SC Makranstädt e.V. from the Leipzig area. In addition, there are girls’ teams from Vienna (MGA Fivers, MADx WAT Atzgersdorf, Handball Wölfe Wien) and Lower Austria (2 teams from Union St. Pölten Frauenhandball and UHC Stockerau).