Handball in Germany

The rules of the game are simple with two teams of seven players (six players and a goalkeeper) each passing or bouncing a ball aiming to throw it in the other team's goal. A blend of football and basketball, the game involves the use of ones hands rather than feet.

The origin of handball can be traced far back to the Greeks and Romans as featured in their songs and writings. Modern handball first gained prominence towards the end of 19th century in Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Based on the games "Raffball" (snatch ball) and "Königsbergerball", physical instructors first introduced handball in Germany as an independent sport at the turn of the century. A Berlin sports teacher Karl Schelenz first launched the game on a standard size pitch with a specific set of rules, which he improved later, and is generally recognized a one of the founders of modern handball in Germany. In 1938 Germany hosted the first Field Handball World Championship.

Germany being one of the major handball playing nations, enthusiasm for the game runs high in the country. In 2007 (January 19 to February 4) the country hosted the 20th World Men's Handball Championship. After a tough competition which saw 24 national teams contesting in 12 German cities, Germany, winners of the competition in 1938 and 1978, defeated Poland in the finals to steal the show yet again. Germany also won the gold medal in men's handball in the 1936 Olympics and were finalists in the 2004 Olympics, where they were defeated by Croatia.

If you are lucky enough to be in Germany in the right time you might catch a glimpse of the Handball Bundesliga fever. The Handball Bundesliga is a uniform premier league for German handball championship since 1977. THW Kiel, the most successful German handball team of the last 15 years won the national championship nine times in the last twelve years.