Handball Rules

The governing body of the game is the International Handball Federation, who also organise the World Championships. It is believed that there are around 19 million handball players in the world today.

Handball is traditionally played indoors but there have been variations such as field handball and beach handball (sometimes referred to as sandball) that have been played outdoors.

Object of the Game

The object of handball is to score more points than your opponent.

A handball game lasts for a regulation 60 minutes. This is split into two periods of 30 minutes each with a 15 minute interval. For younger players, the period time can be reduced to 20 minutes.

Players & Equipment

The standard handball games features 7 players on each side, six outfield players and one goalkeeper. A team will also have 7 substitutes, which can be used on a rolling basis and with no need to notify the referee.

There is semi-circle area around each goal area, sometimes referred to as the crease or the zone. There is also a dashed semi-circle line which lies 9 metres from goal, which is the free throw line.