Handball

Handball, fast-paced indoor sport played between two teams, each with seven players. Each team attempts to score by throwing a ball into the opponent’s goal while defending its own goal. Modern team handball is played indoors and is an Olympic sport governed by the International Handball Federation (IHF). An earlier outdoor version, called field handball, was played by 11-player teams but has largely been replaced by the contemporary indoor game.

Team handball is unrelated to the two- or four-player games (see handball and fives), in which a small hard ball is hit against one or more walls.

History and development

Handball in its present form developed in Europe from several European ball games. The earliest evidence of handball playing can be traced back to Denmark in the 1890s. In 1906 the Danish gymnast Holger Nielsen formalized rules for a game called haandbold. Schools in Denmark played a version of the game in which players used only their hands, while a seven-a-side indoor form of handball was also played in Denmark. Similar forms of the game also appeared in Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, and Ireland. The American version of handball developed separately as a game in which a ball is struck against a wall.

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American Sports Nicknames

Torball, a form of handball, was played in Germany by women players and received formal rules of gameplay in 1917. Under those rules, torball was a noncontact sport played between two teams of 11 players. Matches took place on a rectangular field with a goal at either end and a designated throwing circle. In the years following World War I, German sports official Karl Schelenz introduced several changes to the game. He enlarged the playing field, established a rule limiting players to three steps while holding the ball, and allowed them to knock the ball from an opponent’s hands. This revised German sport expanded internationally, and the first official handball match was played between Austria and Germany on September 13, 1925, in Halle an der Saale, Germany.

Play of the game

Principles of play

A game consists of two 30-minute halves with an intermission, and players wear no protective equipment. The ball is moved by passing, dribbling, or hitting it with any part of the body above the knee. In handball, only the goalkeeper may kick the ball. Running more than three steps with the ball and holding it longer than three seconds are illegal.

Attacking players must take their shots at goal from outside an arc marked on the playing surface, within which only the defending goalkeeper may play. Free throws (usually passes to a teammate) are awarded for minor violations of rules and taken from the spot of the violation or from a line a short distance outside the goal area, or circle. Penalty throws at goal are awarded for more serious infractions and are taken from a penalty mark just outside the circle and directly in front of the goal.

Court and ball

The ball used in games played by men and boys age 16 and older is 58–60 cm (about 23–24 inches) in circumference and weighs 425–475 grams (about 15–17 ounces). Women, girls age 14 and older, and boys ages 12–16 use a smaller ball that is 54–56 cm (about 21–22 inches) in circumference and weighs 325–375 grams (about 11–13 ounces). Girls ages 8–14 and boys ages 8–12 use an even smaller ball that is 50–52 cm (about 19–20 inches) in circumference and weighs 290–330 grams (about 10–12 ounces). The court, which is usually indoors, is 40 meters (131.2 feet) long and 20 meters (65.6 feet) wide. The goal cage is 2 meters (6.6 feet) high and 3 meters (9.8 feet) wide, and the goal-area line is 6 meters (19.7 feet) from the goal line.

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Forms of handball

There are three prominent forms of this sport, each adapted to a diverse group of participants.

• Indoor: This is the standard form of the sport, played indoors by two teams. It is the format seen in the IHF Men’s and Women’s World Championships and the junior and youth world championships.
• Beach: This format is played on sand. It is a distinct form of the sport, with its own men’s, women’s, and youth world championships.
• Wheelchair: This format is an adapted form for players using wheelchairs. While governed by IHF, wheelchair handball has its own world championships with mixed-gender teams.

Major handball competitions

The sport of handball has come a long way since its debut as field handball at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Several tournaments of this sport are held worldwide. Some of them are:

• Olympic Games: Indoor handball has been a part of the Olympics since 1972.
• IHF Men’s World Championship: This is the primary IHF tournament for senior men’s national indoor handball teams.
• IHF Women’s World Championship: This is the primary IHF tournament for senior women’s national teams.
• IHF Junior World Championships: These are the primary junior championships for men and women. For the women’s competition, the players must be at the under-20 level. For the men’s competition, players must be at the under-21 level.
• IHF Youth World Championships: These are competitions for girls ages 15 to 18 and boys ages 16 to 19.
• IHF Men’s Club World Championship: This is an international men’s club competition between several teams worldwide.
• Continental championships: These are tournaments organized by continental handball federations. The championships often are held at senior, junior, and youth levels, usually including competitions in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and the Caribbean, South and Central America, and Oceania.
• IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship: This championship was created for emerging men’s national teams. In this competition, countries with less-established handball programs are given additional opportunities for international competition.
• IHF Trophy: The IHF Trophy is an international development competition organized through regional and continental stages for younger national teams. Current categories include junior and youth competitions for both men and women.
• IHF Beach Handball World Championships: The IHF organizes separate men’s and women’s world championships in beach handball.
• IHF Youth Beach Handball World Championships: These are boys’ and girls’ youth world championships held in beach handball. These are under-17 competitions.
• IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship: The primary competition for the form of handball adapted for players who use wheelchairs.