Rules of the game

Handball is a fast-paced game played by two teams of seven passing, dribbling and throwing a ball around a 40m x 20m court. After two 30-minute periods, the team with the most goals wins. Like soccer, penalties are awarded for infractions, and shootouts can be used to resolve ties in Olympic competitions.

The court has a goal on either end surrounded by two semi-circular lines: The crease (radius of 6m) and a dashed line (9m from goal).

Defenders guard the crease while their opponents throw the ball to one another just outside the 9m line as they try to create scoring opportunities.

After a goal has been scored, the team that has conceded moves to the center line. All players must be inside their own half when the restarting throw is taken.

Only the defending goalkeeper is allowed to step inside the 6m perimeter, though any player may attempt to catch and touch the ball in the air within that area.

Should a defender make contact with an attacker while on the goal perimeter, their team is awarded a penalty, which involves a single attacker on the 7m line versus the opposing goalkeeper.

Ball movement and possession is similar to basketball. If the attacker commits an infraction, such as charging, possession of the ball can be awarded to the defending team.

Players can also lose possession if they take more than three steps without dribbling, or after stopping their dribble.

However unlike basketball, players may take three steps instead of two. Pivoting on one foot is considered a step.

Game play

Most matches comprise two 30-minute periods with one time-out for each team and a 10-minute interval.

Normal league games are usually allowed to end in a draw, but in knockout tournaments like the Olympics, two extension periods of 5 minutes are played. If the teams remain tied after extra time, the winner is determined by an individual shootout from the 7-m line, where each team is given five shots.

Penalty shootouts were needed for at least two women's Olympic finals, with Denmark emerging the winner both times after beating Hungary in 1996 and South Korea in 2004.

These days the game is getting faster and resulting in more goals scored.

It involves body contact as the defenders try to stop their opponents 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, play is stopped and restarted from the spot of the infraction or on the 9-m line, with the attacking team in possession.