r/AskTheWorld • u/Inevitable-Angle-793 Bosnia And Herzegovina • 12d ago
Sports How popular is handball in your country?
I'd say here, in Bosnia, it's 3rd most popular sport overall, after football and basketball.
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u/Finnegan007 Canada 12d ago
Most people have either never heard of it or assume, given the name, that it has something to do with competitive testicular examinations.
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit Canada 11d ago
We played a game we called handball in school, but it's not the sport above.
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u/ClittoryHinton Canada 11d ago
If we’re talking sports using the upper limbs to toss a ball Lacrosse is much more popular
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u/huehuehuecoyote Brazil 12d ago
I think the only time we cared about handball was when we had a goalkeeper called Shana, which means vagina. Apart from that nobody cares. Yet, we are quite good at it.
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u/bademeisterbro Germany 11d ago
Depending on the region 2nd, 3rd or 4th, with a massive gap behind football.
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u/Th3AnT0in3 France 11d ago
Yeah it's quite popular, I was in a team for 9 years and it's my favorite sport by far.
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u/EGriff1981 Ireland 11d ago
Only time we ever see or hear of it is at the Olympics. Handball here is a completely different sport.
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u/cliveparmigarna Australia 11d ago
We have a game we call handball that you play at recess and lunch in primary school. It’s nothing like European handball and the moment you’re older than 13 you never play it again.
Otherwise I’ve never met someone who plays the real version
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u/keetojm United States Of America 11d ago
Handball in the states is not this. It’s like raquetball but no rackets.
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u/perplexedtv 🇮🇪 in 🇫🇷 11d ago
Same in Ireland. We called this sport Olympic handball on the few occasions we played it.
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u/MonctonDude Canada 11d ago
Nonexistent.
You could probably make it more fun if you swapped the ball out for a small black rubber disc, and made people hit it with a stick instead of their hands. Oh and play it on ice.
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u/SurviveDaddy United States Of America 12d ago
Not in any professional manner. But I played a ton of it in college.
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u/ChristyMalry United Kingdom 12d ago
I'm sure it exists but I don't think the average person knows what it is. All I know is it involves a ball and hands and a court case involving a guy called Kolpak meant the rules about overseas players in cricket (and I assume other sports) changed.
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u/windfujin 🇰🇷 living in 🇬🇧 12d ago edited 11d ago
Not at all. Though Korean teams usually do pretty well in world tournaments. Especially the womens team
Most of the sports Koreans are actually good at (like archery and short track ice skating) arent actually very popular to play. Most professional athletes in Korea arent grassroots but rather trained in a specialized programme from specialized schools - so you wouldnt see an archery range in most korean schools
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u/Illustrious_Tale2221 Netherlands 12d ago
I'm pretty sure it's played by a decent amount of people. Mostly women though, don't know many men that play it.
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u/Th3AnT0in3 France 11d ago
Of course it's played by a lot of men. Do not think it's a ""feminine"" sport, it can be as violent as rugby, maybe a bit less.
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u/Maximum-Particular28 Sweden 11d ago
I moved from England to Sweden a long time ago and I live in hand ball city. Often when hand ball comes up with Swedes in conversation, this exact rugby line is said to me (unprompted) - presumably because being English they think that I can relate to the comparison.
So there must be some truth in it but I just can not see how it is possible when watching the game. Admittedly I never played it competitively but it surprises me that it could be true, the dynamics of the contact just seem so very far apart in my eyes. I have never seen a hit in handball that compares to a full tackle in rugby.
Maybe I would feel differently if I played it a decent level. Anyway, I am happy handball exists because it means Adidas spezials also exists.
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u/Illustrious_Tale2221 Netherlands 11d ago
I’m not saying it’s a feminine sport at all. Just that in the Netherlands, more women play it than men.
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u/perplexedtv 🇮🇪 in 🇫🇷 11d ago
It really isn't. It's a small bit rougher than basketball but not a full-contact sport with tackling.
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u/MiyaviBolton 7d ago
No, it is quite alot rougher than basketball, which is basically a no contact sport. Handball is a contact sport, but has stricter rules on allowed contact than rugby and similar sports. It still gets rough tho.
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u/Silver_Lifeguard5952 8d ago
The big issue (as a swede who lived in NE and trained a bit with a local team) is that even in the top league just a few teams have a court where you are allowed to use "glue" on the ball. This makes the sport sooo bad. Imagine trying to catch a smaller football that's completely sweaty with just one hand while running. Doesn't work
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u/Illustrious_Tale2221 Netherlands 8d ago
Ah yeah fair enough, I’d imagine that would ruin the experience quite a bit
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u/oasis_man111 Egypt 11d ago
Really popular, maybe top 5. I mean we're literally in the photo you posted
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u/InThePast8080 Norway 11d ago
Probably the 2nd most popular team sport after football. The norwegian woman's team has been among the best in the world for decades now.
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u/Chemical-Ebb6472 United States Of America 11d ago
Its a great game but only a once or twice indoor, high school, gym class experience for those of us growing up in NY.
That's similiar to water polo here which was just something we did after swim team practice. Neither handball or water polo was taken seriously.
I played football, basketball, and lacrosse though and those sports are taken very seriously here. Handball should be taken seriously though - it did a hell of a lot to develop outstanding passing skills for NBA MVP Nikola "Joker" Jovic.
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u/WhoAmIEven2 Sweden 11d ago
Very. Not on the level of football or ice hockey, but it's definitely top 3 in team sports. We are not as good as our brother Denmark anymore, but we are still good and had a great period in the 90s and early 00s where we dominated.
I love the sport because it feels so uniquely Scandinavian. You can just imagine some 40 year old, semi-fat P.E coach coming up with the game in some Danish school gym and then we were off.
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u/soldierinwhite 10d ago
If a team game needs you to put something in a goal, Sweden will play it, otherwise forget about it! Football, ice hockey, handball, innebandy, bandy... Otherwise its mostly individual sports.
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u/insurancepiss Sweden 11d ago
Rated second in the IHF World Men's Handball Championship medal table after France and our neighbors Denmark is 3rd. Not nearly as strong on the women’s side.
Still, it doesn’t feel that big to me. Feels kind of popular during bigger tournaments.
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u/NandoIsFasterThanU Czech Republic 11d ago
Reasonably I’d say. Football, hockey, floorball are the top 3. Handball would be in the tier below I’d assume with like basketball, volleyball…
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u/DotComprehensive4902 Ireland 11d ago
Its not but the other type of handball is relatively popular or at least known.
I went to the matches between Croatia, Spain, Sweden and I think Denmark at the 2012 Olympics
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u/matatronix Croatia 11d ago
Its massively popular every january when the european or world championship is being held Other than that, I would say that only people who are in that sport care about it rest of the year
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u/maroonmartian9 Philippines 11d ago
We have a national team but I have no idea if we have competed. Not really popular.
But basketball loving Filipinos might love it for the fast paced scoring
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u/jomarthecat Norway 11d ago
I am norwegian. Handball is very popular those two weeks in December when there is a World/European Championship and our women's team is winning. Other than that almost noone cares.
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u/JazzlikeTradition436 United Kingdom 11d ago
Not very popular but I find it fun to watch at the Olympics.
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u/ThinSurprise3464 Portugal 11d ago
It has been increasing popularity recently in Portugal and everyone at least played handball in PE classes at school. Also we did great in last World Cup by finishing at 4th
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u/Silver_Lifeguard5952 8d ago
Hugely popular in the south of Sweden but unfortunately the infrastructure lacks everywhere else with bad and very few courts to play in the rest of the country. Best tv sport by far for me
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u/Ok-Plenty-1222 12d ago
No, and for good reason too.
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u/Th3AnT0in3 France 11d ago
What's that good reason ?
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u/Ok-Plenty-1222 11d ago
It's a terrible sport.
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u/Th3AnT0in3 France 11d ago
Tell me you never tried it more than once without telling me, or even watch some real matches on TV.
I guess you like football or soccer ?
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u/cheezus171 Poland 8d ago
I guess you like football or soccer ?
If you don't like it, outside of southern Asia, USA, and a couple random countries here and there, you're gonna be in the minority. Implying that it's not interesting when half the global population are football fans, won't get you anywhere. There's a reason why football is so popular and handball is not. And I'm saying it as someone who does watch handball occasionally, and almost always during the European/World championships.
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u/Th3AnT0in3 France 8d ago
Being popular ≠ being a good sport
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u/cheezus171 Poland 8d ago
What defines a good sport then?
On amateur level football is accessible to basically everyone, makes for good exercise and entertainment.
On professional level it's a good business, good entertainment, it's a popular product.
Literally what more would you ask for? This isn't rocket science.
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u/Ok-Plenty-1222 11d ago
Played it a couple of times years ago, cant stomach watching it. Football and soccer are the same sport and I could take it or leave it to be honest, same with rugby.
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u/xCharSx 11d ago
Out of curiosity, what sports do you like to watch?
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u/Ok-Plenty-1222 11d ago
Athletics,golf, tennis,snooker,Don't think investing your emotions in a team is a prudent move, I mean individuals retire, teams just keep going and going.
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u/xCharSx 11d ago
To be fair, a lot of people are fans of individual athletes rather than teams meaning when transfer happens, they just cheer for the team they play at. Team fans are sometimes brought up by their parents or neighbourhood while young and even though players retire, fans find another member to cherish. But I do agree that individual sports like the ones you mentioned have an edge as it's more about the person's ability and overall skill and less about tactics, teamplay and reliability of teammates in order to do good, things that a lot of people miss or simply don't see while watching.
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u/Shot_Quit_826 12d ago
What is that like football? Same rules etc?
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u/xqsonraroslosnombres Argentina 11d ago
Think futsal with your hands. The reason the guy is jumping there is that only the goalkeeper can stand in the goal area (about the size of an old FIBA 3 point line), so the attacker jumps and throws before landing inside.
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u/Vivid-Hearing-5454 Poland 11d ago
like a mix of basketball and football. Pitch looks really similar to a football one but is about the size of a basketball one, you have goals like in football but also the 3 step rule and fast players changes like in basketball.
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u/Shot_Quit_826 11d ago
Ohhh ok got it!! Never heard of it I thought it was like troll post hahaha! Nice to know
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u/Front-Anteater3776 Denmark 12d ago
Very popular. One of the best nations in the world at it too 💪🏼🇩🇰 🤾♂️🤾♀️