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# Field Handball
- URL: https://www.bluetegu.me/field-handball/
- Published: 2026-05-10T14:33:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-17T10:21:15.000Z
- Description: A look at the vanished era of 11-a-side field handball, as played during the 1956 European tour.
- Author: Ron Cohen
- Tags: Handball, 1950s, History

This video clip is from the 1959 Field Handball World Championship in Austria. At that time, the game was played on a football (soccer) field with football-sized goals, and each team had 11 players on the pitch. The goal area was a semicircular line with a 13-meter radius, and the penalty mark was at 14 meters (instead of the 6 and 7 meters used in modern handball). The game length was the same: 60 minutes.

It was a very different game compared to today’s handball. You can see the goalie jumping and fully extending to save shots in the large goal. A player dribbles the ball, stops, and then dribbles again—rules that are far different from the modern game.

During the 1959 Israeli handball season, the league alternated between modern (7-a-side) and field handball matches. The 1964 season was the first to switch exclusively to modern handball. All matches during the 1956 European tour were played as field handball games.