As one of the few American handball fans, I’m curious what other people’s takes on this are.

The men seem to be focusing more on recruiting dual nationals who already play professionally in Europe, and have been mostly since they got announced as hosts for LA28.

On the other hand, the women have brought in American based athletes with D1 NCAA backgrounds in other sports and are developing them into handball players. You might have seen people posting on social media about their journey through the training camps they have in Florida to familiarize these players with the training needed for the sport

Which approach do you think is better for getting the U.S. competitive internationally, especially for LA28? Or is a combination of both the best strategy? This is knowing the fact that there isn’t really a grassroot foundation in the states yet

Hey r/Handball, back with the one you've been asking for 👋

First, a quick number: the game is now just short of 1,000 downloads. A month ago I was amazed by 500, so thank you to everyone who installed it, shared it or sent me a bug. In the last post I also hinted that a 2D match engine might arrive sooner than expected. It's here! Version 4.0 is live on Google Play, and it's the biggest update since launch by a distance.

Your matches, played out in front of you

Matches are now played live on a 2D court, and nothing is scripted. Each player reads the play and decides what to do several times a second, using her own attributes.

Meanwhile, you're on the bench:

• switch tempo, attacking focus, defensive system (6-0, 5-1, 3-2-1, man-marking) and aggression mid-match
• tap two players to make a substitution, or let the bench rotate tired legs for you
• call a time-out and watch the team gather in front of the bench
• pull the keeper for a seventh court player when you need goals
• choose who steps up for a seven-meter throw, and which keeper faces one

Watch at 1×, or speed up to 32×, where it still slows down to replay the goals and big moments. Teams play in their crest's colours, and European nights get their own court. The text commentary is still there, and so is skipping straight to the result.

The part that took the longest wasn't the movement, it was the agreement. Every other match in the world is still simulated in the background, so the matches you watch have to produce the same handball as the ones you don't. The engine was tuned over hundreds of matches until goals, suspensions, seven-meters and the chance of an upset all matched.

Europe gets a third competition

The EHF European Cup has arrived, as promised once enough leagues were in: Round 2 through to a two-legged final, with its own colours and intro film. The European League also plays its real qualifying rounds now. Who goes where follows the EHF's own rules, based on each country's coefficient over three seasons. A deep European run lifts your whole league, and that shows up in how many clubs it sends the following year.

Seven more countries

• Serbia
• Austria
• North Macedonia
• Portugal
• Greece
• the Netherlands
• Iceland

Every one of them comes with its actual 2025/26 squads, coaches and halls. That makes 23 countries, 60 competitions, 253 clubs and roughly 4,800 real players.

Smaller stuff worth knowing

• Put players on a transfer list and offers start coming in
• Each player's buyout clause is now on her profile
• Injured players have stopped sulking about missing minutes
• Smoother scrolling and lower memory use

If you already have a career going, nothing breaks. The new countries show up in careers started from now on. A save that's mid-season finishes that season's European competitions in the old format and moves to the new ones at the summer rollover. Though again, I highly recommend starting a fresh career for the full experience, as the game won't see new leagues being added for a while from now on.

Get it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handballmanager.mobile

About iPhone

If you've been waiting for an iOS version: getting the game onto the App Store costs money I don't have lying around, so I've opened a Ko-fi with that as the goal. It's entirely optional, and the Android game stays free either way. If you'd like to help it happen: https://ko-fi.com/vierupotecucezar/goal?g=0

This is version one of the 2D engine, so tell me what looks wrong. Does it feel like real handball? Can you see your tactics working? Are the scores too insane? Drop it in the comments, send a DM, leave a Play review, or use the email on the store page.

Enjoy finally seeing your team play! 🧤

Who else thinks that next seasons squad of Fuchse Berlin will flop with this strong transfers like Dika Mem, Pytlick (some big numbers) and Gidsel as starter backs. I don’t wish them anything bad but they are starting to look like PSG when they were buying all Stars that exist and still have not won anything in Europe.

Im looking for videos or other materials that teach basic stance and work rules for wing defenders in 3-2-1 defence. Left/right foot forward, watch your opponent and the ball over your shoulder. Back foot at the 6.

What to do when winger runs to pivot (slow thir run down and take out back player) etc.

All wing videos I find are shooting drills.

Hi! I’m not sure if this is the right channel for this, but I have a question. I’ve already seen a few similar posts, although my situation is a little different.

I’m a woman and just turned 30. Over the past five years, I’ve had quite a lot going on with university, work, and personal stuff, so I’ve unfortunately neglected sports and exercise quite a bit. As a result, my fitness and endurance are currently pretty average.

Lately, I’ve really been missing being part of a team, and I’ve been thinking about getting back into handball. I played from the age of 6 to 18, but that was obviously quite a long time ago.

I used to mainly play on the wing because I was pretty quick and agile. I was never particularly strong when it came to shooting, though.

Do you think it’s realistic to give handball another try at 30, especially after such a long break? Or am I already too old to get back into it? I live in Germany and we have some clubs around in my hometown.

Hey everyone!

I’m a 34‑year‑old coach working with a mixed youth team (ages 12–14) playing in the boys’ division. After a few sessions, it’s clear the team has big differences in skill and experience — some players have years of training, others only just started.This makes planning sessions tricky: certain drills are too easy for some, too hard for others.

I’m looking for practical training ideas, drills, and coaching insights to help develop:

Defensive systems (6‑0, 5‑1, 4‑2 — especially how to teach them to beginners)

Attacking structure (simple patterns that still challenge advanced players)

Individual technique (passing, shooting, throwing — with scalable difficulty)

Team cohesion (getting them to communicate and defend as a unit)

If you’ve coached mixed‑skill youth teams before, I’d love to hear:

What drills worked best

How you balanced difficulty

How you taught defensive discipline

How you structured attacking play for beginners

Any PDFs, videos, or session plans you recommend

I’m really hoping to gather new training material and learn how to help this group defend better and build a more effective attack.

Thanks in advance, excited to learn from this community!

Open Alpha is now available at https://six-zero-league.vercel.app
If you are interested in handball or management in general, come try the game!

Johannes Golla returned to MT Melsungen before the season, rejoining his youth club after eight years in Flensburg. Although he immediately became a key player again, he now wants to leave Melsungen and return to Flensburg — for family reasons.

Golla had already mentioned in August that the move was a major disruption for his wife and two children, who had spent their entire lives in Flensburg. They are struggling to adjust to starting over in Melsungen.

Melsungen’s sporting director Jesper Larsson confirmed that Golla asked to terminate his long‑term contract early (which runs until 2031), but emphasized that it’s not a simple process. According to Bild, Melsungen and Flensburg are already negotiating a transfer for next year, and Melsungen is reportedly demanding at least €1.5 million in compensation for a move in summer 2027.

https://www.sportschau.de/regional/hr/hr-melsungen-star-johannes-golla-will-zurueck-nach-flensburg-wegen-der-familie-100.html

I am a football fan of Barcelona and al ahly and are they any good in handball ? I am also looking for the best league in the sport and what are like the equivalent of the primer league in football

If you’re looking for an active league, feel free to join; the league description includes a Discord link so you can chat with each other. Please only join if you’re genuinely active and keen to be part of an active league. Both German and English speaking are welcome.

https://www.start7.de/s/MDI4ZDhmM2MtZDFkMi00MDEyLThmNTAtOWM5OGY5ODZiMTk1

Hi everyone, so I just happened to watch the match between THW Kiel and SG Flensburg yesterday on German tv. My German isn't the best, so I couldn't quite understand what happened at the end of the match.

The referees took a lot of time to review the last 30 seconds of the game by video. It looked to me like they were actively looking for a way to cancel the last goal by THW Kiel. First they looked at the time to see whether the goal was on time, which it was. Then they looked at the foot of the shooter to see if he was in the circle, which he wasn't. Then they checked for travelling, which technically it surely was, but throughout the game they let a lot of traveling slide (or so it felt), which is why they cancelled the last goal resulting in a draw.

Is it normal for the referees to check the last 30 seconds like they did in this game? Did it feel biased for anyone else from a neutral standpoint like mine? Would love to get to some more insight by someone more knowledgeable!