(Photo: Disclosure/IHF)
Handball was first played in Berlin in 1936, still as an outdoor sport. It only returned to the official Olympic Games program when Germany hosted it again, in Munich-1972, and finally never left. The first women’s handball tournament at the Olympics was in Montréal-1976. So, check out all the details about handball in Paris-2024 in the Olympic guide.
Brazil is finally looking for its first medal in the sport at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Brazil has been competing in handball competitions since Barcelona-1992, and has participated in both competitions on four occasions. The best results were when she led the women’s group in London-2012 and Rio-2016, but fell in the quarterfinals. In the women’s category, the best placement was also achieved in 2016, when the team finally reached the quarterfinals for the first and only time.
Datasheet
Athletes: 336
Vacancies: 24
Events: 2
Filled vacancies: 9 teams (126 athletes)
Ranked Countries: 8
Summoned Athletes: 0
Allocation of Vacancies: for the National Olympic Committee
Last update of the Olympic Guide: 20/11/2023 (version 3, after the Asian men’s and African women’s pre-Olympics)
Handball Olympic Classification in Paris-2024
There will be 12 places for both men and women, each with 14 athletes. In total there will be 168 men and 168 women. France already has a guaranteed place in both genders. These will be the tournaments in hierarchical order of classification:
Men’s Handball Tournament
- 2023 World Championship, in Poland and Sweden, from January 12th to 29th, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- 2023 Asian Pre-Olympics, in Doha, Qatar, from October 18 to 28, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- 2023 Pan American Games, Santiago, Chile, from October 27th to November 1st, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- 2024 European Championship, in Cologne, Germany, from January 12th to 28th, 2024. 1 place is valid;
- 2024 African Championship, in Cairo, Egypt, from January 18 to 28, 2024. 1 place is valid;
- Pre-Olympic A, in a location to be defined, from March 11 to 17, 2024 between Spain (3rd world*); Hungary (8th in the world*); 2nd in Asia; 2nd in America. Worth 2 places;
- Pre-Olympic B, in a location to be defined, from March 11 to 17, 2024, between Sweden (4th in the world*), Egypt (7th in the world*), 2nd in Africa, 3rd in Europe. Worth 2 places;
- Pre-Olympic C, in a location to be defined, Germany: (5th in the world*), Norway (6th in the world*), 2nd in Europe and 3rd in Africa. Worth 2 places.
*Countries can win a place in the continental qualifiers, opening a place for Croatia and Slovenia (9th and 10th in the world, respectively) and therefore changing the distribution of countries in the groups.
Women’s Handball Tournament
- 2023 World Championship, in Denmark/Norway/Sweden, from November 30th to December 17th, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- Asian Pre-Olympics, in Hiroshima, Japan, from August 17th to 23rd, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- 2022 European Championship, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from November 4th to 20th, 2022. 1 place is valid;
- African Pre-Olympic, in Luanda, Angola, from October 10th to 12th, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- 2023 Pan American Games, in Santiago, Chile, from October 21 to 27, 2023. 1 place is valid;
- Pre-Olympic A, in a location to be defined, from April 8 to 14, 2024. 2 places are valid;
- Pre-Olympic B, in a location to be defined, from April 8 to 14, 2024. 2 places are valid;
- Pre-Olympic C, in a location to be defined, from April 8 to 14, 2024. 2 places are valid.
Olympic vacancies in Handball dispute
Men’s Tournament (4/12)
Host country- France (14)
World Cup 2023- Denmark (14)
Africa- 1 place
Americas- Argentina (14)
Asia- Asia (14)
Europe- 1 place
1st Pre-Olympic (A) – 2 places
2nd Pre-Olympic (B) – 2 places
3rd Pre-Olympic (C) – 2 places
Women’s Tournament (5/12)
Host country: France (14)
World Cup 2023- 1 place
Africa- Angola (14)
Americas- Brazil (14)
Asia- South Korea (14)
Europe- Norway (14)
1st Pre-Olympic (A) – 2 places
2nd Pre-Olympic (B) – 2 places
3rd Pre-Olympic (C) – 2 places
Brazilian handball chances in Paris-2024
In Tokyo 2020, Brazil managed to get a place in the Pre-Olympics only after Egypt took the Olympic place and freed up a place in the world pre-Olympics. This time, Brazil needs to be a finalist in the Pan American Games to at least guarantee itself in the pre-Olympics, but it remains the favorite for gold in Santiago-2023 and the Olympic place.
As for women, the Pan American Games serve as the team’s first chance to qualify for Paris and finally as preparation for the World Cup that will be weeks later. The women’s team no longer has the dominance it had when it was world champion and was the favorite for an Olympic medal, but it remains the main force on the continent and a candidate for a medal.
Competition Format
Shortly.
Handball schedule at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Shortly.
Handball Competition Venue in Paris-2024
While the group stage will be held in the French capital, the finals will be in Lille, a city in northeastern France, on the border with Belgium.
Group stage: Paris Sud 6 Arena
Final stage: Stade Pierre Mauroy, in Lille.
The Stade Pierre Mauroy is located in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, in the metropolitan region of Lille. It has a capacity for 27,000 spectators and will host not only the handball finals, but also the basketball group stages at the Olympic Games.
Pierre Mauroy was mayor of Lille between 1973 and 2001, Prime Minister of France between 1981 and 1984 and, finally, Senator of France between 1992 and 2011. This is how he named the stadium after his death in 2013. He is also known as Arena Decathlon, main sponsor, but the name will be duly deleted during Paris 2024.
The stadium was opened to the public in 2012 and has a retractable roof, making it possible to host various sports, but also various artistic and cultural shows. It was primarily the venue for the handball world championship in 2017. But it has also hosted major events recently, such as the 2014 and 2017 tennis Davis Cup final, Euro 2016 football matches, and the 2015 European basketball championship.
Villeneuve-d’Ascq is a residential suburb of Lille, close to the Belgian border. It is part of the Hauts-de-France region, in the North department (Nord). It is mainly known for housing many university campuses and for being one of the main technology hubs in Europe, having been the first city in the world to house a driverless metro.
Furthermore, Lille is a central city in the French High Speed Rail (TGV) Brussels-London-Paris triangle. It is 1 hour from Paris, 1 hour and a half from London and 35 minutes from Brussels, capital of many European companies and organizations. Finally, the gym is close to the “Cité Scientifique” and “4 corners” stations of metro line 1. Furthermore, on event days there is a free bus to the stadium from “Les Près” station on line 2.
Interested in cinema, sport, queer studies and travel. If you put all this together, it’s even better. Master’s student in Olympic Studies at IOA. I was in Tokyo 2020.
