What is handball?

Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the goal of the other team. A standard match consists of two periods of 30 minutes, and the team that scores more goals wins.

Modern handball is played on a court of 40 by 20 metres, with a goal in the middle of each end. The goals are surrounded by a 6-metre zone (the circle) where only the defending goalkeeper is allowed; goals must be scored by throwing the ball from outside the zone or while “diving” into it. Players can take three steps before they have to dribble. After dribbling, you can take three steps again to take a (jump) shot or pass the ball. The sport is usually played indoors, but can also be played outdoors on concrete, but sometimes even on grass. Additionally, there is beach handball, but more about that later. Handball is fast and high-scoring: professional teams now typically score between 20 and 35 goals each, though lower scores are also possible. Body contact is permitted for the defenders trying to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. No protective equipment is mandated, but players may wear soft protective bands, pads and mouth guards.

Manos currently offers indoor handball, and if we have enough motivated members, we will also host some beach practices next year. At the highest level, handball is played with resin. However, we are not allowed to use resin at UM Sports due to high effort and costs related to cleaning. Please be aware of this. So don’t take resin or a resin ball to our practice. The only time we play with resin is at GNSK, the national student championship.

Beach handball

Beach handball is a variation of indoor handball, but with even more speed and more tricks. Below you can find a quick video introduction.

If our members are enthousiastic enough, we will also offer some beach handball practices during the 2022-2023 season.

The rules

If you want to take a deeper dive into the rules, you can download them below.

– Rules indoor handball – English
– Rules indoor handball – Dutch
– Rules indoor handball – German

– Rules beach handball – English
– Rules beach handball – German