Handball betting guide

Handball boasts a significant level of popularity mostly in Continental Europe, but is only a minor sport in the UK. The founding fathers of handball were German physical education experts who based the new discipline on two games: Raffball (snatchball) and Koningsbergball at the beginning of the 20th century. Gradually handball spread to Denmark, Norway and Sweden and later to central European countries.

Handball is really starting to get more popular in Spain and the Basque region. Spaniards have their own variation of handball called Basque Pelota. Ireland's version of handball is known as Gaelic Handball. What are the benefits of playing handball? First of all, it allows you to burn lots of calories and become ambidextrous. It increases your hand-eye coordination and what is most important is a team sport in the very sense of the word. You defend as a unit and attack as a unit – one for all and all for one.

Most popular tournaments broadly covered by major online bookmakers include:

• Olympic Games. Handball at the 2008 Summer Olympics enjoyed massive popularity among punters. 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 EHF Champions League. Europe’s regional men’s handball tournament organised 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 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 bookmakers it receives the widest betting coverage. Spanish Liga ASOBAL is also very popular choice for punters. 

• 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 bookmaker 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?

A good goalkeeper in addition to in-play betting equals profits

In handball, a good charismatic goalkeeper is often regarded as the key to success. What is most important for a goalie to stage great defending performance is to drain the confidence levels from the opponents in the very first stages of the game. What frequently happens afterwards is that the opponents become unsure about their skills and throw the ball at the goal with hesitation and shaking arms. Goals are scored quite frequently in handball    If a handball goalkeeper stops a throw, it's often considered an outstanding save, unlike in football where strikers miss opportunities all the time. If you happen to witness this phenomenon as you watch a handball game (TV or Live streaming), you can try your luck at live betting and back the team with the inspired goalie.

Never back the draw

Handball matches rarely result in a draw, which means very high payout odds. But in most cases it simply pays off to back one of the teams winning the game.