Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Each National Olympic Committee might enter up to one men's and one women's team in the handball tournaments. The qualification processes for the men's and women's events were similar. The host country was guaranteed an entry in each event, as was the 2015 World Champion (runner-up if the Olympic host was the champion). 4 more spots were awarded to the winners of continental qualification tournaments (for Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, with the runner-up qualifying if the winner was the Olympic host or the World Champion). Finally, 6 spots were awarded through 3 Olympic Qualification Tournaments. These tournaments were open to the top 6 teams from the World Championship that had not already qualified as well as 6 entrants determined through a complex continental qualification algorithm; the 12 teams were divided into 3 tournaments of 4 teams each, with the top 2 teams in each tournament qualifying.[2]

Men's qualification

Main article: Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

Mean of qualification	Date	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	2 October 2009	Copenhagen	1	Brazil
2015 World Championship	15 January – 1 February 2015	Qatar	1	France
2015 Pan American Games	16–25 July 2015	Toronto	1	Argentina
2015 Asian Qualification Tournament	14–27 November 2015	Doha	1	Qatar
2016 European Championship	15–31 January 2016	Poland	1	Germany
2016 African Championship	21–30 January 2016	Cairo	1	Egypt
2016 Olympic Qualification Tournaments	8–10 April 2016	Gdańsk	2	Poland
				Tunisia
		Malmö	2	Slovenia
				Sweden
		Herning	2	Denmark
				Croatia
Total			12

Women's qualification

Main article: Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

Mean of qualification	Date	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	2 October 2009	Copenhagen	1	Brazil
2014 European Championship	7–21 December 2014	Zagreb Budapest	1	Spain[1]
2015 African Qualification Tournament	19–21 March 2015	Luanda	1	Angola
2015 Pan American Games	15–24 July 2015	Toronto	1	Argentina
2015 Asian Qualification Tournament	20–25 October 2015	Nagoya	1	South Korea
2015 World Championship	5–20 December 2015	Denmark	1	Norway
2016 Olympic Qualification Tournaments	18–20 March 2016	Metz	2	Netherlands
				France
		Aarhus	2	Romania
				Montenegro
		Astrakhan	2	Russia
				Sweden
Total			12

^ 1. Norway won the European Championship, ensuring its qualification. Norway later also won the 2015 World Championship title, which took precedence in the qualification path. Therefore, the European Championship's runner-up, Spain, received the European continental tournament berth.

The draw took place on 29 April 2016.[3]

The competition consisted of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	5	4	0	1	147	134	+13	8[lower-alpha 1]	Quarter-finals
2	France	5	4	0	1	152	126	+26	8[lower-alpha 1]
3	Denmark	5	3	0	2	136	127	+9	6
4	Qatar	5	2	1	2	122	127	−5	5
5	Argentina	5	1	0	4	110	126	−16	2
6	Tunisia	5	0	1	4	118	145	−27	1

Source: IHF
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.
Notes:

1. Croatia 29–28 France

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	5	4	0	1	153	141	+12	8[lower-alpha 1]	Quarter-finals
2	Slovenia	5	4	0	1	137	126	+11	8[lower-alpha 1]
3	Brazil (H)	5	2	1	2	141	150	−9	5
4	Poland	5	2	0	3	139	140	−1	4
5	Egypt	5	1	1	3	129	143	−14	3
6	Sweden	5	1	0	4	132	131	+1	2

Source: IHF
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.
(H) Host.
Notes:

1. Slovenia 25–28 Germany

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal
	17 August
	Croatia	27
					19 August
	Poland	30
					Poland	28
	17 August
					Denmark (OT)	29
	Denmark	37
									21 August
	Slovenia	30
									Denmark	28
	17 August
									France	26
	Brazil	27
					19 August
	France	34
					France	29
	17 August
					Germany	28			Bronze medal
	Germany	34
									21 August
	Qatar	22
									Poland	25
									Germany	31

The competition consisted of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil (H)	5	4	0	1	138	117	+21	8	Quarter-finals
2	Norway	5	4	0	1	141	121	+20	8
3	Spain	5	3	0	2	125	116	+9	6
4	Angola	5	2	0	3	116	128	−12	4
5	Romania	5	2	0	3	108	119	−11	4
6	Montenegro	5	0	0	5	107	134	−27	0

Source: IHF
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.
(H) Host.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	5	5	0	0	165	147	+18	10	Quarter-finals
2	France	5	4	0	1	118	93	+25	8
3	Sweden	5	2	1	2	150	141	+9	5
4	Netherlands	5	1	2	2	135	135	0	4
5	South Korea	5	1	1	3	130	136	−6	3
6	Argentina	5	0	0	5	101	147	−46	0

Source: IHF
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

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal
	16 August
	Brazil	23
					18 August
	Netherlands	32
					Netherlands	23
	16 August
					France	24
	Spain	26
									20 August
	France (OT)	27
									France	19
	16 August
									Russia	22
	Sweden	20
					18 August
	Norway	33
					Norway	37
	16 August
					Russia (OT)	38			Bronze medal
	Russia	31
									20 August
	Angola	27
									Netherlands	26
									Norway	36

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

• "Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics (Rio2016.com)". Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2018.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics at SR/Olympics
• International Handball Federation
• Results Book – Handball