Handball Betting Guide

Most popular tournaments broadly covered by major online sportsbooks include:

  • Olympic Games. Handball at the 2008 Summer Olympics enjoyed massive popularity among bettors. Handball has been an Olympic discipline since 1972, but the turning point on handball betting popularity came much later, at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
  • The World Men’s Handball Championship. This premier international handball event is organised by the International Handball Federation since 1938. It is played biennially and enjoys a high profile in Continental Europe. The 2011 World Men’s Handball Championship will be held in Sweden in January, while the 2013 World Men’s Handball Championship will be held in Sweden.
  • The EHF Champions League. Europe’s regional men’s handball tournament oraganized by the European Handball Federation.

The European Men’s Handball Championship. This biannual tournament is played by Europe’s top national men’s handball teams which also fulfils the function of a qualifying tournament for the World Championships. The 2012 EHF European Men’s Handball Championship will be held in Serbia in January. The 2014 EHF European Men’s Handball Championship (11th tournament) will be held in Denmark in January.
The EHF Cup Winners Cup. Annual competition for men’s and women’s clubs of Europe that won their domestic cups.
Domestic league handball betting. Probably the strongest handball league is the German Bundesliga and among top online sportsbooks it receives the widest betting coverage. Spanish Liga ASOBAL is also very popular choice for bettors

Handball Bet Types

  • Match betting – predicting which team will win the match (usually with the additional draw outcome)
  • Half-time match betting – predicting which team will lead after the half-time
  • Handicap betting – in this bet type, the team which the sportsbook considered weaker is given a handicap in the form of goals, so that for the sake of the bet, the odds on both teams are close to equal – the odds on the favourite rise, the odds on the underdog fall.

Over / Under Goal betting – predicting whether the total number of goals in the match will be over or under the value set by odds-makers.

Other bets:

  • Will the total number of goals be odd or even?
  • Will the total number of goals in the 1st half be odd or even?
  • Will the total number of goals in the 2nd half be odd or even?
  • Will more goals be scored in the 1st or 2nd half?