Nice

Great game, we got outclassed. Congratulations !

Sådan! 🇩🇰❤️

Sådan for pokker! 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰

Well played to both teams, really exciting match!

There hasn’t been anyone this dominant at Handball since Diego Maradona in 1986

Despite not being as important for the danes now in 2023, Mikkel Hansen has to be the GOAT?

I believe that is the general consensus yes

Three in a row, baby!!

Lålålålå frankrig spis en frø

Very very underrated comment!!! Please have my upvote distinguished gentleman

I’d argue he still plays an essential role, sure he is not playing the left back and hammering in goals as much, but he is amazing at distributing the ball and playing the line player, while still having the threat of his eminent shooting technique.

I only really tune into Handball for the WC and occasionally watch the German league and Champions League, but isn't Nikola Karabatić also in that conversation?

Also is Thierry Omeyer in that conversation or are goalies generally not cosidered in those debates?

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Cute

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Bravo!

I literally arrived in Copenhagen for the first time over the weekend, and as a Canadian had no idea about handball. Randomly walked into a local bar while this was going on and it was intense. Tillykke Danish bros!

Before my time, but Magnus Wislander got the award for player of the century, if you're counting stuff like that

Cool sport?

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Dane who is very into handball. Karabatic is def the GOAT for me.

Hansen may be the best offensive player (Balic another candidate)

you guys never played hand ball in gym? was my PE teacher's go to sport when we were between units in Vancouver. that being said we used volleyballs and hockey nets so it definitely wasn't regulation haha

Didn't Balic win some award for being the best ever as well?

I see Diego I upvote Rest In Peace Diego, Pele, Johan, Shankly, Paisley, & Moran.

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> we used volleyballs and hockey nets

As a Dane I'll have to pretend I didn't read this, for the sake of my sanity.

I want to see them against the best handball players in prison

Denmark, amazing.

"Three-peat", embarrassing.

Any AWLs here!?

like I said, definitely not regulation, but you gotta realize public schools in Canada have a shoestring budget and you gotta make do with what you have.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️

That's because there's nothing else to do in Denmark

I’m actually surprised that handball is not more popular in the US. Easy to follow, very similar gameplay pattern to basketball (the passive play rule is the only big difference). And it’s also very physical in a good way. Hopefully the LA Olympics will give a big boost to the game in the US!

Just left Denmark today. Entire country was hyped for this tournament.

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I don't even think most Americans are even aware of handball. If you say handball to the average american, I'm pretty sure they would think you were talking about the game where you hit the ball against the wall.

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We put tape on the wall and used volleyballs in the us too haha

The sport is bigger in several countries. France and Germany come to mind first and foremost.

Wall ball

my first introduction into Handball was 2009. He was stellar

it’s big in Croatia

Does any other countries have teams or do they just win by default.

In the US it was hockey nets and kickballs for us

That is handball. This is team handball.

Pretty big in Tunisia and North Africa too

Tillykke Danmark!

Am Danish, can confirm. Especially during winter.

HEROIC

ASTRALIS

HANDBALL

A GREAT DAY FOR DENMARK, AND THEREFORE THE WORLD!

That's not what I think of when I hear handball

Why would it be popular when you already have basketball. That’s like saying it’s surprising cricket is not popular because of baseball or that it’s surprising rugby is not popular because of football. What actually happens is the opposite. When two sports are similar one dominates and the other “lesser” sport gets no attention.

There's plenty of things to do in Denmark besides playing Handball. Like watching Handball for example.

Handball seems cool, reminds me of those "throw the ball in the goal" games we'd come up with as kids

Could Lebron James quit the NBA today and absolutely dominate at this or am I missing something about this sport?

Van isle, here, and may I ask; wtf is handball?

probably not :).

I can tell you’re a handball expert

The shooting motion is more like throwing an American football

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Well, no. No, he couldn't.

Balic was the MVP at Championships 5 consecutive times which is quite spectacular. And Handball player of the World a couple of times.

But Wislander received a specific award for player of the century from the IHF. That was last century though, so Balic was not really part of it playing wise.

Both spectacular players. But we have a lot of century left, so high obstacle for Balic to get that award. Specially with competition like Karabatic, Hansen. Who knows what Gidsel will end up like. Or Knorr.

Yeah i couldn't remember what Balic won. But as far as I can tell, he won a fan poll as the best handball player ever. I dont know how legit that Was though.

Also, the US did surprisingly well in this world cup, winning 2 out of 6. They were basically expected to lose all games except maybe against Uruguay in game of 31-32 place. 20th place is amazing, and I don't care if it's all dual citizens!

Think more a baseball infielder if you're looking at converting an Am sports position, but this is also a high contact sport so stamina is much more important than you'd ever find among baseball players.

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It's like basketball with football contact rules and constant defensive/offensive subs.

And these guys are all 6 ft 5 and +210 lbs.

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Tennis ball throw it against the wall helps me forget about my cancer.

He would get dominated physically as it is a contact sport. Also the shooting technique is very different. The ball is covered in resin and you roll it out of your hand, flicking the ball with your wrist. He probably would be a poor shot.

Handball players are tall - average is 6 foot 5 and 210 lbs. They would have no problem tackling him, and he would get fatigued fast from it.

Nope, the resin alone would take him time getting used to.. that and the sheer physicality of the sport. It’s not like basketball in that regard. He definitely has the build and athleticism for it, though

Of course. And any one of Danish players could just walk into any NBA starting 5 and would just dominate by hitting 3 pointers from half court with one arm. That's what your logic sounds like.

Time for them to start playing a sport someone else plays

I remember in 2009, France decided to play the final four of the League Cup in Miami Heat's arena. Unfortunately, despite good games, only 1000 people showed up.

You mean for your comment

Obviously, disappointed as a French. But since 2017, the Experts are dead but we stay relevant. I guess it is now the time for Denmark to dominate and do what no one else has done: do the three-peat.

They dominated us from the start and didn't break while bending for some parts of the game.

Touché

Congratulations for all the Danish here! It was a tough, close game in semis against you, you always make us bring the A game.

Yeah, I've told this to my American friends. It simply isn't popular because it's not a college sport, plus every athletic person is gonna do a school sport(scholarships and whatnot). As you say, if you're 6'4 and athletic, you're either playing basketball or american football already for sure.

Average international handball player is built like an NFL linebacker or tight end lol

Yeah, Americans would actually love it. It's basically violent basketball mixed with hockey rules(actual goal, two-minute suspensions).

There's also an Irish sport called handball that is basically racketless squash

Former European championship winners in the most popular sport in the world and came 4th in the most recent tournament. Not bad for a relatively small nation

Do you mean something countries like Spain, Germany and France plays maybe?

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The Dutch will be in trouble when Jay Cutler starts playing

I think Basketball's popularity is the reason handball is a thing in the US. They occupy the same niche so why play/watch handball when Basketbal is right there.

The passive play rule isn't that different to the shot clock tbh, it serves the same purpose

Americans are clueless about handball. I remember when some NFL player said they could put together a team that would beat olympic champions (France at the time).

You mean like generally overperforming vastly in the most popular sport on the planet along with the likes of Croatia, despite Denmark and Croatia being incredibly small countries?

Just generally big in the Balkans.

> Handball players are tall - average is 6 foot 5 and 210 lbs. They would have no problem tackling him, and he would get fatigued fast from it.

Exactly. Not only are handball players generally quite tall, but they're also heavy as hell and unbelievably strong. Simon Pytlick looks like a genuinely small guy on a handball court, but he's both taller and heavier than someone like Russell Westbrook.

Yeah, and then you have someone like Lukas Jørgensen who is 247 lbs, same height. Also being very tall, is not necessarily an advantage in a contact sport, as your center of mass is higher.

Isn't handball the second largest sport after football?

Football has world cups every four years like the Olympics. Handball has it every second year, but most most sports have it every year.

Don't forget about my boy Notail / Johan Sundstein

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Still don’t believe it’s a real sport.

All that just screams Aussie rules and is partially why the game got a boost during covid

What high school?

Canadian context: dodgeball is way more known and commonly played than handball is here. Most Canadians have no idea handball is even a thing in Europe.

And Lukas is not even particularly big for a pivot!

> Also being very tall, is not necessarily an advantage in a contact sport, as your center of mass is higher.

Absolutely, yes. If being tall was the be-all and end-all in handball, Dainis Kristopans would be the best. He isn't.

Also worth noting that the spread in the match against Denmark was 22.5 goals and US only lost by 9 goals.

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Very very overrated comment!!! Please have my downvote distinguished gentleman

>Or Knorr.

He's cooking up something, that's for sure!

TIL there’s something called handball and it has a championship.

Ljubomir Vranjes comes to mind!

Also Switzerland, it is quite popular here but of course not in the same category as Hockey and Football

The what now?

The difference is no more Omeyer anymore that dude was scary 💀

We played Handball for a couple weeks in PE in Michigan. Hockey nets and i believe our teacher had a couple of legit handballs. It was a lot of fun

Of course. Omeyer was our best player until he retired. His successors are good but not at the level of Omeyer.

Denmark has Niklas Jacobsen and we saw the difference.

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I live in NYC and it's actually very popular in the Bronx and Queens (maybe Brooklyn too, but I don't go to Brooklyn). They even have leagues and in the summer hold tournaments.

I've never seen any violence (like shoving or whatnot) and it's always such a chill and happy atmosphere. They set up scoring tables and sometimes record on cameras. They also play music.

The players range in size though; some are skinny and some are clearly dedicated to caring for their bodies. I think they also play co-ed but most times it's just men.

In hs gym class it was called European Handball, because yes 100% Handball is a park game played with a wall.

Is this what you're talking about: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AEVmOPdgASc

Because that's not handball, this is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OOEHMmbtqxc

Oh! That's a big difference. It's like soccer (football) meets basketball! So cool. Thanks for the correction!

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Maybe 4 in a row?

!remindme 2 years

Not sure why/how this is a sport.

No worries

For his height, he's a bit skinny. He would struggle playing defence, and in the offense he would get shut down and have to rely on his height to score from a distance.

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We dont have anyone with that name 😂

No, he’s not. He’s 110-113kg based on a cursory Google search, but that puts him on the level of larger pivots. That’s not skinny at all

Niklas Landin Jacobsen

https://www.ihf.info/competitions/men/308/28th-ihf-mens-world-championship-2023/101253/players/23331

This guy is pretty big. Probably the heaviest pivot to reach the quarter finals. However size isn't everything. Magnus Saugstrup is one of the best pivots, and probably one of the best defensive players, and he's "only" 197 cm 101 kg.

https://www.ihf.info/competitions/men/308/28th-ihf-mens-world-championship-2023/101253/players/24993

Thanks for the correction.

I used to play it in NY. LES had some handball courts.

I’m 6’5” and 220 lbs…do I have to start running in a garbage bag so I can join a team? Does look like a fun change from soccer!

Why the garbage bag?

Interval training, squat and benchpress (general strength training), is what most handball players do besides the actual training for the sport.

If you're not used to throwing a ball with one hand, you'll have a very hard time transitioning from soccer, and your forearms especially and hands will be underdeveloped strength wise.

Excuse me for posting sports new in the sports subreddit.

Does anyone even play handball lmao

Given American Football is by far the most watched I've always been baffled how Rugby isn't even on the radar. To a lesser degree baseball and cricket. Handball feels similar as say to basketball.

In certain respects it feels like the US forged its own sports for the most parts and by the 1990s it became crowded. The only team sport breaking in has been soccer/football and that has the advantage of being the biggest sport in the world. Even that has been a tough long road over the decades. Years ago I thought Lacrosse might, but it continues to reside in the periphery of US sport culture.

I'd be surprised for any team sport to break into the collective psyche beyond an Olympic curiosity.

Heja Danmark!

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Yeah, you can also look at the French pivots, Fabregas (198 cm, 101 kg) and Tournat (200cm, 115 kg). And that’s pivots, no way Lebron would be playing that position

You're right. He'd be on the bench, lol. Or maybe a winger.

I’m just talking about build here

If this is what you're talking about: https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/handball then it's the wrong handball.

Outside of countries like France, Germany and Spain, nah no one.

Yeah, how could this ever be a sport, so weird right?

Considering that (arguably) the best backs currently are the relatively small and nimble Gidsel and Pytlick, I'd say there is no clear advantage to being Lebrons height considering how Handball at the highest level is played at the moment.

Maybe he could use his speed as a winger. Probably the only position he could play.

We invented Handball and its pretty much the National Sport together with football

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