About the Game

	Handball - Interesting Facts • Second Largest Sport in Europe • Second Fastest Team Sport in the World • Olympic Sport since 1936 • Played in 160 Countries Worldwide • Over 15 million participants • Voted Best Sport at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney

	The Rules Handball is played on a court forty meters long by twenty meters wide, with a dividing line in the middle and a goal in the center of either end. The goals are surrounded by a near-semicircular line that is generally six meters away from the goal. There is also a dashed near-semicircular line that is nine meters away from the goal. Only the defending goalkeeper is allowed to step inside the six meter perimeter, though any player may attempt to catch and touch the ball in the air within it. If a player should find himself in contact inside the goal perimeter he must immediately take the most direct path out of it. Should a defender make contact with an attacker while in the goal perimeter, their team is penalized with a direct attempt at the goal, with only one attacker on the seven-meter line and the defending goalkeeper involved. The ball is smaller than a football in order for the players to be able to hold and handle it with a single hand (though contact with both hands is perfectly allowed). The ball is transported by bouncing it between hands and floor - much as in basketball. A player may only hold the ball for three seconds and may only take three steps with the ball in hand. After taking three steps, the player must bounce the ball, pass to another player or shoot. A standard match duration consists of two periods of 30 minutes each during which each team may call one time-out. Normal league games are usually allowed to end in a draw, but in knockout tournaments, such as the final stages of the Olympics, two extension periods of 10 minutes are played. If each of these ends in a tie after the extra time the winner is determined by an individual shootout from the 7-meter line. The game is quite, fast and includes body and contact as the defenders try to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. Only frontal contact by the defenders is allowed; when a defender stops an attacker with their arms instead of their torso, the play is stopped and restarted from the spot of the infraction or on the nine meter line, with the attacking team in possession. Penalties are given to players, in progressive format, if the contact between the players is particularly rough (even if it is indeed frontal). The referees may award a nine-meter free throw to the attacking team, or if the infraction was during a clear scoring opportunity, a seven-meter penalty shot is given. In more extreme cases they give the defender a yellow card (warning), a 2-minute penalty, or a red card (permanent expulsion). For rough fouls they can also order two-minute expulsions and a red card expulsion without having to warn the player first. If the attacker commits an infraction, such as charging, the possession of the ball can be awarded to the defending team. Players may also cause the possession to be lost if they make more than three steps without dribbling or after stopping their dribble. However unlike basketball, the player may take three steps instead of two (pivoting on one foot is considered a step) and the ball must be "patted" down instead of the more controlled basketball method. The usual formations of the defense are the so-called 6-0, when all the defense players are within the 6 meter and 9 meter lines; the 5-1, when one of the players cruises outside the 9 meter perimeter, usually targeting the center forwards; and the least common 4-2 when there are two such defenders. The usual attacking formation includes two wingmen, a center-left and a center-right which usually excel at high jumps and shooting over the defenders, and two centers, one of which tends to intermingle with the defense (also known as the pivot or line player, somewhat similar to the hole set (2-meter) in water polo), disrupting the defense formation, and the other being the playmaker (similar to basketball).

Handball is played on a court forty meters long by twenty meters wide, with a dividing line in the middle and a goal in the center of either end. The goals are surrounded by a near-semicircular line that is generally six meters away from the goal. There is also a dashed near-semicircular line that is nine meters away from the goal. Only the defending goalkeeper is allowed to step inside the six meter perimeter, though any player may attempt to catch and touch the ball in the air within it. If a player should find himself in contact inside the goal perimeter he must immediately take the most direct path out of it. Should a defender make contact with an attacker while in the goal perimeter, their team is penalized with a direct attempt at the goal, with only one attacker on the seven-meter line and the defending goalkeeper involved.
The ball is smaller than a football in order for the players to be able to hold and handle it with a single hand (though contact with both hands is perfectly allowed). The ball is transported by bouncing it between hands and floor - much as in basketball. A player may only hold the ball for three seconds and may only take three steps with the ball in hand. After taking three steps, the player must bounce the ball, pass to another player or shoot.
A standard match duration consists of two periods of 30 minutes each during which each team may call one time-out. Normal league games are usually allowed to end in a draw, but in knockout tournaments, such as the final stages of the Olympics, two extension periods of 10 minutes are played. If each of these ends in a tie after the extra time the winner is determined by an individual shootout from the 7-meter line. The game is quite, fast and includes body and contact as the defenders try to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. Only frontal contact by the defenders is allowed; when a defender stops an attacker with their arms instead of their torso, the play is stopped and restarted from the spot of the infraction or on the nine meter line, with the attacking team in possession. Penalties are given to players, in progressive format, if the contact between the players is particularly rough (even if it is indeed frontal). The referees may award a nine-meter free throw to the attacking team, or if the infraction was during a clear scoring opportunity, a seven-meter penalty shot is given. In more extreme cases they give the defender a yellow card (warning), a 2-minute penalty, or a red card (permanent expulsion). For rough fouls they can also order two-minute expulsions and a red card expulsion without having to warn the player first.
If the attacker commits an infraction, such as charging, the possession of the ball can be awarded to the defending team. Players may also cause the possession to be lost if they make more than three steps without dribbling or after stopping their dribble. However unlike basketball, the player may take three steps instead of two (pivoting on one foot is considered a step) and the ball must be "patted" down instead of the more controlled basketball method.
The usual formations of the defense are the so-called 6-0, when all the defense players are within the 6 meter and 9 meter lines; the 5-1, when one of the players cruises outside the 9 meter perimeter, usually targeting the center forwards; and the least common 4-2 when there are two such defenders. The usual attacking formation includes two wingmen, a center-left and a center-right which usually excel at high jumps and shooting over the defenders, and two centers, one of which tends to intermingle with the defense (also known as the pivot or line player, somewhat similar to the hole set (2-meter) in water polo), disrupting the defense formation, and the other being the playmaker (similar to basketball).