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50 free Handball trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This handball trivia quiz covers the whole of team handball, the fast, high-scoring indoor game that fills arenas across Europe and appears every four years at the Summer Olympics. It starts with the rules and the court: the seven-metre throw, the six-metre crease, the three-step rule, two-minute suspensions and the two referees who share every match. From there it moves into history, from Holger Nielsen's Danish rulebook of 1906 and the 1917 Berlin rules to field handball at the 1936 Games and the sport's indoor return in Munich in 1972. The second half is about the people and the trophies: Nikola Karabatić, Mikkel Hansen, Ivano Balić, Thierry Omeyer, Cristina Neagu, Anja Andersen and Kiril Lazarov; France's six world titles, Denmark's four in a row, Norway's women, THW Kiel and the Bundesliga, the EHF Champions League and beach handball's bikini-bottom controversy. Some questions are easy for anyone who has watched a tournament; others will stretch lifelong fans. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the sport, its federations, championships and players, and each explanation adds one further detail. Play, see your score and challenge the rest of your team.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many players does each handball team have on the court at once?
Seven
That is six court players plus a goalkeeper, with seven more substitutes waiting on the bench.
Q 02How long is each half of a standard senior handball match?
30 minutes
Youth halves are shorter, dropping to 25 minutes for ages 12 to 15 and 20 minutes for ages 8 to 11.
Q 03What are the dimensions of a handball court?
40 by 20 metres
That is a bit longer and wider than a basketball court, with a goal set into the middle of each end line.
Q 04How far from the goal is the line that marks the goalkeeper-only zone, or crease?
Six metres
Attackers may still score from inside it by jumping in and releasing the ball before they land.
Q 05From what distance is handball's equivalent of a penalty kick taken?
Seven metres
Unlike a football penalty it happens several times a match, so teams keep specialist takers for it.
Q 06How many steps may a handball player take while holding the ball without dribbling?
Three
The player also gets only three seconds, and picking up a dribble grants another three steps or seconds before a pass or shot is required.
Q 07How many referees officiate a handball match?
Two
They stand diagonally so each watches a sideline, and swap the court and goal roles on every turnover.
Q 08How wide is a handball goal?
Three metres
The goal is two metres high, and its posts must be painted in alternating contrasting colours.
Q 09How long is a standard suspension for a serious foul in handball?
Two minutes
Three of them in one game earn a red card and ejection.
Q 10How many team timeouts per game has each handball team been allowed since 2012?
Three
A team official signals it with a green card marked with a black T, and only the team in possession may call one.
Q 11How far from the goal is the dashed free-throw line on a handball court?
Nine metres
Free throws are handball's free kicks and carry no great penalty, but a shot taken directly from one at the final buzzer occasionally goes in.
Q 12Which card do handball referees show for a disqualification with a written report?
Blue
It follows the red card, and the IHF also defines 18 hand signals for referees.
Q 13What is the handball position that plays on the six-metre line among the defenders commonly called?
Pivot
Also known as the line player, it needs strength and ball control more than jumping ability.
Q 21In which year was the International Handball Federation founded?
1946
Its founding congress met at the Palace Hotel in Copenhagen with eight national federations, and Sweden's Gösta Björk became first president.
Q 22In which Swiss city is the International Handball Federation headquartered?
Basel
The IHF is a federation under Swiss law and now counts 209 national member federations.
Q 23Hassan Moustafa, who became IHF president in 2000, comes from which country?
Egypt
He was appointed at the 28th Ordinary IHF Congress in 2000 and was still in office in 2025, a quarter of a century later.
Q 14Which handball defensive formation is sometimes known as the "flat defense"?
6–0
All six defenders form a wall between the six- and nine-metre lines; every other shape is called an offensive defence.
Q 15Which handball referee signal, introduced in 1995, warns an attacking team that it must shoot soon?
Raising one hand high
The passive-play warning stops teams from stalling; a shot on goal takes the hand back down.
Q 16A goalkeeper deflects the ball over the outer goal line. Who gets possession?
The defending side
It is the opposite of football's corner rule, and play restarts with a goalkeeper throw from inside the zone.
Q 17Which Danish gym teacher published the first written set of team handball rules in 1906?
Holger Nielsen
Nielsen, an Olympic medalist and lieutenant, taught at Ordrup grammar school north of Copenhagen.
Q 18In which city were the modern handball rules published on 29 October 1917, the sport's accepted birthday?
Berlin
Karl Schelenz, Max Heiser and Erich Konigh wrote them, and Schelenz revised them again in 1919.
Q 19At which Olympics was men's field handball first played?
1936 Berlin
It was played outdoors and then vanished from the programme, returning as the indoor game only in 1972.
Q 20Women's handball joined the Olympic programme at which Games?
1976 Montreal
Eastern European teams that had refined the indoor game dominated the early Olympic tournaments.
Q 24Which country hosted the first indoor men's Handball World Championship in 1938?
Germany
Only four European teams took part, and the second edition was not held until sixteen years later in Sweden.
Q 25Which nation has won the most men's Handball World Championships?
France
France has six titles; Sweden, Denmark and Romania have four each.
Q 26Which team won its fourth consecutive men's Handball World Championship in 2025?
Denmark
The 2025 tournament was spread across Croatia, Denmark and Norway.
Q 27Which was the first non-European country to medal at the men's Handball World Championship, in 2015?
Qatar
Qatar hosted that tournament and took silver, ending 77 years of all-European podiums.
Q 28Which player scored a record 92 goals at a single men's Handball World Championship, in 2009?
Kiril Lazarov
He did it in nine matches for Macedonia and is also the all-time top scorer of the EHF Champions League.
Q 29Which was the first country outside Europe to win the women's Handball World Championship, in 1995?
South Korea
Brazil became the second non-European champion in 2013.
Q 30Which Norwegian goalkeeper is the only player with seven women's World Championship medals?
Katrine Lunde
She first appeared at the Worlds in 2003 and was also MVP of the women's tournament at the 2024 Olympics.