Abstract
How large is a modern handball court?
Handball
Handball (also known as team handball, Olympic handball, European team handball, European handball, or Borden ball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outfield players and a goalkeeper on each team) pass a ball to throw 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 40 by 20 meters (131 by 66 ft), with a goal in the center of each end. The goals are surrounded by a 6-meter zone where only the defending goalkeeper is allowed; the goals must be scored by throwing the ball from outside the zone or while "diving" into it. The sport is usually played indoors, but outdoor variants exist in the forms of field handball and Czech handball (which were more common in the past) and beach handball (also called sandball). The game is quite fast and includes body contact, as the defenders try to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. Goals are scored quite frequently; usually both teams score at least 20 goals each, and it is not uncommon for both teams to score more than 30 goals. The game was codified at the end of the 19th century in northern Europe, chiefly in Scandinavia and Germany. The modern set of rules was published in 1917 in Germany, and had several revisions since. The first international games were played under these rules for men in 1925 and for women in 1930. Men's field handball was first played at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, and the next time at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, and has been an Olympics sport since. Women's team handball was added at the 1976 Summer Olympics. The International Handball Federation was formed in 1946, and has 174 member federations. The sport is most popular in continental Europe, whose countries have won every single medal in men's world championships since 1938, and all women's titles until 2013, when Brazil broke the series. The game also enjoys popularity in Far East, north Africa and Brazil.