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Handball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids
Men's handball
at the XXXIII Olympiad
Olympic rings without rims.svg
Tournament details
Host country  France
Dates 27 July – 11 August
Teams 12 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s) South Paris Arena 6
Pierre Mauroy Stadium (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  DEN (2nd title)
Runner-up  GER
Third place  ESP
Fourth place  SLO
Tournament statistics
Matches 38
Goals scored 2221 (58.45 per match)
Attendance 367,592 (9,673 per match)
Top scorer(s) Denmark Mathias Gidsel
(62 goals)
Best player Denmark Mathias Gidsel
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The men's handball tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics was a super exciting event! It was the 15th time men's handball was played at the Summer Olympic Games. The games took place from July 27 to August 11, 2024.

The first games were held at the South Paris Arena 6 in Paris, France. For the final matches, the teams moved to the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France.

Denmark won their second Olympic title by beating Germany in the final. Spain earned the bronze medal after winning against Slovenia.

How Teams Qualified

Teams had to go through special tournaments to earn their spot in the Olympics. This made sure only the best teams competed!

Team Rosters

Want to know which players were on each team? You can find all the details about the team rosters here.

The Games Begin: Group Stage

The tournament started with a group stage, where 12 teams were split into two groups, Group A and Group B. Teams played against every other team in their group. The top teams from each group moved on to the knockout stage.

Group A Standings

Here's how the teams finished in Group A:

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Source: Olympics Paris 2024 rankings
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.

Group B Standings

Here's how the teams finished in Group B:

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Source: Olympics Paris 2024 rankings
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.

Knockout Stage: The Finals Begin

After the group stage, the top teams moved into the knockout rounds. This meant that if a team lost, they were out of the tournament!

Tournament Bracket

This chart shows how the teams played against each other in the final rounds:

 
Quarterfinals Semifinals Gold medal
 
                   
 
7 August
 
 
 GER (ET) 35
 
9 August
 
 FRA 34
 
 GER 25
 
7 August
 
 ESP 24
 
 ESP (ET) 29
 
11 August
 
 EGY 28
 
 GER 26
 
7 August
 
 DEN 39
 
 NOR 28
 
9 August
 
 SLO 33
 
 SLO 30
 
7 August
 
 DEN 31 Bronze medal
 
 DEN 32
 
11 August
 
 SWE 31
 
 ESP 23
 
 
 SLO 22
 

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were intense!

  • Spain won a very close game against Egypt, 29–28, after going into overtime.
  • Germany also had a nail-biting overtime win against France, 35–34.
  • Denmark beat Sweden 32–31 in another tight match.
  • Slovenia defeated Norway 33–28.

Semifinals

Only four teams remained for the semifinals:

  • Germany continued their winning streak by beating Spain 25–24.
  • Denmark secured their spot in the final by winning against Slovenia 31–30.

Bronze Medal Game

The bronze medal game was played between the two teams that lost in the semifinals.

  • Spain won the bronze medal, beating Slovenia 23–22 in a very close contest.

Gold Medal Game

The big final game was for the gold medal!

  • Denmark played against Germany. Denmark showed amazing strength and won the gold medal with a score of 39–26, becoming Olympic champions for the second time!

Final Ranking and Top Players

After all the games, here's how the teams ranked and who the standout players were.

Final Ranking

All-Star Team

The best players from the tournament were chosen for the "All-Star Team." This team includes the top player for each position, plus the Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Top Goalscorers

These players scored the most goals during the tournament:

Top Goalkeepers

These goalkeepers made the most saves and had the best save percentages:

Medal Winners

Here are the teams that won medals at the men's handball tournament:

Gold Silver Bronze
 Denmark

Niklas Landin Jacobsen (c) (GK)
Niclas Kirkeløkke
Magnus Landin Jacobsen
Emil Jakobsen
Rasmus Lauge
Emil Nielsen (GK)
Magnus Saugstrup
Hans Lindberg
Mathias Gidsel
Henrik Møllgaard
Mikkel Hansen
Lukas Jørgensen
Lasse Andersson
Simon Hald
Thomas Sommer Arnoldsen
Simon Pytlick


Head coach: Nikolaj Jacobsen
 Germany

David Späth (GK)
Johannes Golla (c)
Luca Witzke
Sebastian Heymann
Justus Fischer
Juri Knorr
Julian Köster
Renārs Uščins
Kai Häfner
Tim Hornke
Andreas Wolff (GK)
Rune Dahmke
Lukas Mertens
Christoph Steinert
Marko Grgić
Jannik Kohlbacher


Head coach: Alfreð Gíslason
 Spain

Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas (c) (GK)
Jorge Maqueda
Alex Dujshebaev
Rodrigo Corrales (GK)
Adrià Figueras
Imanol Garciandia
Abel Serdio
Agustín Casado
Aleix Gómez
Ian Tarrafeta
Miguel Sánchez-Migallón
Daniel Dujshebaev
Kauldi Odriozola
Daniel Fernández<
Javier Rodríguez


Head coach: Jordi Ribera
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