Don’t miss the best handball predictions for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and follow all the news from the men’s and women’s tournaments. Who are the favourites for gold? Read our analysis of the groups and contenders, and follow all the live handball excitement with Marathonbet!
The Olympic Games have included handball in their schedule since 1972 and the French capital is preparing to bring the next exciting edition, with the 12 best teams fighting for the gold. This event will be of special interest to home supporters as the hosts, France, currently hold the gold medal in both categories. Don’t miss our Olympic handball predictions for the Paris 2024 games!
Preliminary groups for the Olympic handball at Paris 2024
A dozen national teams are fighting for Olympic medals in both the men’s and women’s categories. The 2024 Olympic Games begin with a group stage, where the teams are divided into two groups of six teams in each.
2024 Olympic Games men’s tournament groups
Group A
- Spain
- Croatia
- Germany
- Slovenia
- Sweden
- Japan
Group B
- Denmark
- Norway
- Hungary
- France
- Egypt
- Argentina
2024 Olympic Games women’s tournament groups
Group A
- Norway
- Germany
- Slovenia
- Sweden
- Denmark
- Korea Republic
Group B
- Hungary
- Netherlands
- Spain
- France
- Brazil
- Angola
The competition system is identical for both tournaments. The top four teams in each group advance to the knockout rounds, where the excitement and the fight for medals begin. Who will win the medals?
Handball 2024 Paris Olympic Games favourites
The hosts and reigning champions in both categories, France, are the favourites to take the gold medal in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. However, the Scandinavian teams will be hoping to mount a strong challenge in the search for gold.
Men’s handball gold medal odds for the Olympic Games 2024
- France @2.60
- Denmark @2.80
- Sweden @7.00
- Croatia @10.00
- Spain @11.00
- Egypt @18.00
- Norway @ 18.00
- Germany @ 31.00
- Hungary @ 76.00
- Slovenia @ 101.00
- Argentina @ 201.00
- Japan @ 251.00
Predictions for the men’s Olympic handball at Paris 2024
The French are rightly favourites to win the men’s handball gold medal at the summer Olympics. As well as hosting the tournament, France have won the gold medal at three of the last four Olympics, and finished second in the other one! In each of those finals, they have faced Nordic opponents, beating Iceland in 2008, Sweden in 2012 and Denmark in 2020. The 2016 final also featured France and Denmark, but on this occasion, the Danes took gold.
At the 2023 world men’s handball championship, it was Denmark and France who once again contested the final. Denmark won the final 34-29 to win their third successive title. Prior to that run, France had won four of the previous five tournaments.
Therefore, it’s easy to understand why these two nations head the betting for the Olympic men’s handball winner, and it’s difficult to see the gold not being won by one of them.
Which of the other nations could mount a challenge against these handball heavyweights?
Spain have formed a habit of finishing third in recent major tournaments, taking that place at the 2020 Olympics and both the 2021 and 2023 World Championships. In the last seven Olympics, Spain have finished in third on four occasions. They are yet to reach the final.
Sweden have a similar habit in the Olympics, except their usual spot is second place. They have reached four Olympic finals previously and have won four silver medals. They have won the World Championships four times, but the most recent of those wins was back in 1999. At Tokyo 2020, Sweden lost to Spain by a single goal in the quarter-final stage.
In the eight-year period between 1996 and 2004, Croatia won two Olympic gold medals and a World Championship. However, they failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and lost in the quarter-finals at Rio 2016. They failed to advance to the knockout rounds in the 2023 World Championship, finishing third in their main-round group. In both their preliminary and main-round groups, Croatia finished behind Egypt.
Egypt lost the bronze medal match at Tokyo 2020, and are still awaiting their first Olympic medal in this sport.
Predicted men’s handball medal table
🥇 Denmark
🥈 France
🥉 Spain
Women’s handball gold medal odds for the Olympic Games 2024
- France @1.80
- Norway @2.75
- Denmark @7.00
- Netherlands @13.00
- Sweden @13.00
- Germany @21.00
- Brazil @ 76.00
- Hungary @76.00
- Spain @ 76.00
- Slovenia @101.00
- Angola @ 201.00
- Korea Republic @ 201.00
Predictions for the women’s Olympic handball in Paris 2024
France are odds-on favourites to win the women’s handball gold medal at the summer Olympics. As the current holders of both the World Championship title and Olympic title, and given that they are playing on home territory in Paris, they will be a popular pick to finish first. Can anyone stop them?
The betting suggests that Norway will be the nation most likely to challenge them, in what would be a repeat of the 2023 World Championship final, which France won 31-28. However, Norway have won more medals than any other nation at both the Olympics and the World Championships and are used to contending at the business end of women’s handball tournaments. They took Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012 and have won bronze medals at the last two games.
Denmark won gold at three successive Olympics between 1996 and 2004; however, they have only qualified for one of the subsequent four games. That was in London 2012, where they lost four of their five group matches and failed to reach the knockout rounds. The Danes have finished third at the last two World Championships, defeating Spain and Sweden respectively to claim a bronze medal.
The Netherlands had a purple patch towards the end of the last decade. They won a World Championship gold, silver and bronze between 2015 and 2019, and finished fourth in Rio in 2016. At the 2023 World Championships, the Netherlands won all five group matches to reach the quarter-finals, where they were soundly beaten by Norway.
Sweden have struggled recently when playing the stronger sides. In Rio 2016, they reached the quarter-finals before losing 33-20 to Norway. The same two sides met in the bronze medal match in Toyko 2020, but this time Norway won by an even bigger margin (36-19).
Although Germany have yet to win an Olympic women’s handball medal since reunification, last year’s World Championship will give them some encouragement. They won four of their five group matches, with their only loss coming in a close match against Denmark. Although they were soundly beaten by Sweden in the quarter-finals, they could prove a lively outsider here.
Predicted women’s handball medal table
🥇 France
🥈 Norway
🥉 Germany
Men’s handball match schedule for the Olympic Games 2024
Group stage: 27th July – 4th August
Quarter-finals: 7th August
Semi-finals: 9th August
Bronze medal game: 11th August
Gold medal game: 11th August
Women’s handball match schedule for the Olympic Games 2024
Group stage: 25th July – 3rd August
Quarter-finals: 6th August
Semi-finals: 8th August
Bronze medal game: 10th August
Gold medal game: 10th August
Men’s Olympic handball – last six finals
Sydney 2000: Russia 28–26 Sweden
Athens 2004: Croatia 26-24 Germany
Beijing 2008: France 28-23 Iceland
London 2012: France 22-21 Sweden
Rio 2016: Denmark 28-26 France
Tokyo 2020: France 25-23 Denmark
Women’s Olympic handball – last six finals
Sydney 2000: Denmark 31–27 Hungary
Athens 2004: Denmark 34-34 Korea Republic (Denmark won 4-2 on penalties)
Beijing 2008: Norway 34-27 Russia
London 2012: Norway 26-23 Montenegro
Rio 2016: Russia 22-19 France
Tokyo 2020: France 30-25 ROC
A brief guide to Handball
What is handball?
Handball is one of the lesser-known ball games at the Olympics, but it’s a fast-paced game that is popular in many parts of the world, especially in Europe.
What is the aim of handball?
Handball is played on an indoor court. It features two teams of seven players and is played over two 30-minute halves. The players pass the ball with their hands, with the aim of throwing the ball into their opponent’s goal.
What are some of the basic handball rules?
- Apart from the goalkeepers, players are only allowed to touch the ball using their hands, head, body and legs above the knee. They can’t touch the ball with their feet or any part of the body below the knee.
- Players can pass, dribble or shoot, but can’t take more than three steps without dribbling.
- Players cannot hold on to the ball for more than three seconds.
- If a match is tied, an overtime period will be played.
- Body-contact is allowed in handball.
- Goalkeepers cannot cross the goal zone line whilst carrying the ball.
Follow all the handball action with Marathonbet. Watch the goals fly in as you make your picks for the gold medal winners in the Olympic handball.
*Odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change thereafter.
Check out our other Olympic betting guides in the Marathonbet blog: Olympic football, Olympic basketball and Olympic tennis.
