Handball
We explain what handball is, what its court is like rules and positions. In addition, we will tell you its history and the game’s objective.
What is handball?
Handball, handball or handball is a sport in which two teams compete to control an inflated ball, using their hands to control it and throw it into the opponent’s goal, which is equivalent to scoring a goal. It is played outdoors and indoors; each team comprises around seven people.
Handball is a sport widely practised in Europe, with a rather minority presence in the rest of the world, except some American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, African countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria, and the only Asian exception of South Korea. . There are both women’s and men’s professional leagues in these countries, and national, regional and even world competitions, organized by the International Handball Federation (IHF), based in Basel, Switzerland.
This sport should not be confused with wall handball, also called handball, wallball or 1-wall, a sport in which two players compete for control of a ball by bouncing it off a wall. In Anglo-Saxon countries, it is common to refer to this sport as handball and handball as team handball or “team handball”.
history of handball
Handball has essential antecedents in different games played in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, such as the “Urania game” mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey, and of which pictorial murals were found in Athens in 1926.
However, the sport is very young, and its first professional gaming groups emerged in central and northern Europe in the 20th century. At that time, it was played like soccer in teams of 11 players, just as it is still practised in some European countries. Its creation is attributed to the German physical education teacher Karl Schelenz (1890-1956).
In 1926 the international regulations of the sport were established, and in 1928, the International Amateur Handball Federation was founded during the IX Summer Olympics. This body later became the International Handball Federation, and in 1954 it organized its first world competition in the men’s category and, three years later, the first in the women’s category.
In the 1960s, the practice of handball was approved by the International Olympic Committee, and in 1972 it was incorporated into the Olympic Games.
Goal of the game in handball
handball handball goal
At the end of the match, the team that has scored the most goals will be the winner.
The objective of handball is to score as many goals as possible while preventing the opponent from doing the same. For this, the ball must be controlled most of the time and must be made to enter the opposing team’s goal as many times as possible. At the end of the match, the team that has scored the most goals will be the winner.
Duration and result
A typical handball game lasts about an hour, divided into two periods of thirty minutes each. In the case of youth teams, this period can be shortened to 25 or 20 minutes per period. There is a mandatory rest period of 10 minutes between one period and another.
At the end of this time, whoever has scored the most goals will be the winner. In the event of a tie, five more minutes of rest will be granted, and then an extra time of two periods of 5 minutes each will be played, with a minute of rest between the two. If the tie continues, the procedure will be repeated. If there is no decisive result, the winning team will be determined by five successive throws of seven meters (7 m) per team until a winner is found.
