Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Men's handball
at the XXXII Olympiad
Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Venue(s)	Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Dates	24 July – 7 August 2021
Teams	12 (from 5 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	France (3rd title)
Runner-up	Denmark
Third place	Spain
Fourth place	Egypt
Tournament statistics
Matches played	38
Goals scored	2,204 (58 per match)
Attendance	0 (0 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mikkel Hansen; (61 goals)
Best player	Mathias Gidsel
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The men's handball tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the 14th edition of the handball event for men at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held from 24 July to 7 August 2021. All games were played at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.^[1]

It was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.^[3]

The final was a rematch of the previous between Denmark and France. After Denmark won 28–26 in the 2016 final, France got the upper hand with a 25–23 win this time.^[4]^[5] Spain won the bronze medal match against Egypt.^[6]

This meant that France won both gold medals as the first team since 1984.

The medals for the competition were presented by Jean-Christophe Rolland, IOC Member, Olympian, one Gold medal and one Bronze medal, France; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Joël Delplanque, IHF 1st Vice-President, France.

Schedule

Legend
G	Group stage	¼	Quarter-finals	½	Semi-finals	B	Bronze medal match	F	Gold medal match

^[7]

Sat 24	Sun 25	Mon 26	Tue 27	Wed 28	Thu 29	Fri 30	Sat 31	Sun 1	Mon 2	Tue 3	Wed 4	Thu 5	Fri 6		Sat 7
G		G		G		G		G		¼		½			B	F

Qualification

Qualification	Date	Host(s)	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	—	—	1	Japan
2019 World Championship	10–27 January 2019	Denmark Germany	1	Denmark
2019 Pan American Games	31 July – 5 August 2019	Lima	1	Argentina
AHF Men’s Asian qualification event	17–26 October 2019	Doha	1	Bahrain
2020 European Championship	10–26 January 2020	Austria Norway Sweden	1	Spain
2020 African Championship	16–26 January 2020	Tunisia	1	Egypt
2020 IHF Men's Olympic Qualification Tournaments	12–14 March 2021	Podgorica	2	Norway Brazil
		Montpellier	2	France Portugal
		Berlin	2	Sweden Germany
Total			12

Draw

The draw was held on 1 April 2021.^[8]^[9]

Seeding

The seeding was revealed on 14 March 2021.^[10]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Denmark Norway	France Sweden	Germany Portugal	Brazil Japan	Spain Egypt	Argentina Bahrain

Roster

Referees

The referee pairs were announced on 21 April 2021.^[11]

Referees
Algeria	Youcef Belkhiri Sid Ali Hamidi
Argentina	María Paolantoni Mariana García
Croatia	Matija Gubica Boris Milošević
Czech Republic	Václav Horáček Jiří Novotný
Denmark	Mads Hansen Jesper Madsen
Egypt	Yasmina El-Saied Heidy El-Saied
France	Charlotte Bonaventura Julie Bonaventura
Germany	Robert Schulze Tobias Tönnies

Referees
North Macedonia	Gjorgji Nachevski Slave Nikolov
Portugal	Duarte Santos Ricardo Fonseca
Russia	Viktoriia Alpaidze Tatiana Berezkina
Slovenia	Bojan Lah David Sok
South Korea	Koo Bon-ok Lee Se-ok
Spain	Óscar Raluy Ángel Sabroso
Sweden	Mirza Kurtagic Mattias Wetterwik
Switzerland	Arthur Brunner Morad Salah

Group stage

All times are local (UTC+9).^[12]^[13]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	5	4	1	162	148	+14	8^[a]	Quarter-finals
2	Spain	5	4	1	155	142	+13	8^[a]
3	Germany	5	3	2	146	131	+15	6^[b]
4	Norway	5	3	2	136	132	+4	6^[b]
5	Brazil	5	1	4	128	145	−17	2
6	Argentina	5	0	5	125	154	−29	0

Source: Tokyo 2020 and 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:

^ ^a ^b France 36–31 Spain
^ ^a ^b Germany 28–23 Norway

24 July 2021 09:00	Norway	27–24	Brazil	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Sagosen 8	(12–13)	Langaro 5
		Report	1× 6× 1×

24 July 2021 11:00	France	33–27	Argentina	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Belkhiri, Hamidi (ALG)
	Richardson 7	(12–10)	D. Simonet 8
	1× 5×	Report	1× 4×

24 July 2021 16:15	Germany	27–28	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Kurtagic, Wetterwik (SWE)
	Weinhold 5	(13–12)	Figueras, Gómez 5
	2× 5×	Report	2× 2×

26 July 2021 09:00	Brazil	29–34	France	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Kurtagic, Wetterwik (SWE)
	Dutra 10	(13–16)	three players 4
	4× 1×	Report	2×

26 July 2021 11:00	Argentina	25–33	Germany	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Martínez, D. Simonet 5	(13–14)	Kastening, Schiller 7
	3× 4×	Report	2× 3× 1×

26 July 2021 16:15	Spain	28–27	Norway	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Figueras 10	(13–14)	Jøndal 9
	1× 5×	Report	2× 2×

28 July 2021 16:15	Norway	27–23	Argentina	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Fonseca, Santos (POR)
	Sagosen 7	(13–12)	Pizarro, D. Simonet 5
	2× 4×	Report	2× 7×

28 July 2021 19:30	Brazil	25–32	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Silva 6	(16–18)	Solé 5
	4×	Report	1× 1×

28 July 2021 21:30	France	30–29	Germany	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Mem 6	(16–13)	Kastening 7
	1×	Report	1× 1×

30 July 2021 09:00	Argentina	23–25	Brazil	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Martínez 6	(7–14)	Silva 7
	2× 4× 1×	Report	1× 5× 1×

30 July 2021 14:15	France	36–31	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Remili 9	(18–12)	Dujshebaev, Gómez 5
	2× 3×	Report	1× 2×

30 July 2021 21:30	Germany	28–23	Norway	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Gensheimer 6	(14–11)	Sagosen 7
	2× 3×	Report	1× 6× 1×

1 August 2021 14:15	Spain	36–27	Argentina	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Kurtagic, Wetterwik (SWE)
	Gómez 6	(17–12)	Pizarro 5
	3×	Report	3×

1 August 2021 16:15	Norway	32–29	France	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Sagosen 7	(15–15)	Descat, N. Karabatić 5
	1× 1×	Report	1× 3×

1 August 2021 19:30	Germany	29–25	Brazil	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Knorr, Weinhold 6	(16–12)	Dutra 7
	1× 3×	Report	2× 2×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	5	4	1	174	139	+35	8^[a]	Quarter-finals
2	Egypt	5	4	1	154	134	+20	8^[a]
3	Sweden	5	4	1	144	142	+2	8^[a]
4	Bahrain	5	1	4	129	149	−20	2^[b]
5	Portugal	5	1	4	143	156	−13	2^[b]
6	Japan (H)	5	1	4	146	170	−24	2^[b]

Source: Tokyo 2020 and 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) Hosts
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c Denmark 2 Pts, +2 GD; Egypt 2 Pts, 0 GD, Sweden 2 Pts, −2 GD
^ ^a ^b ^c Bahrain 2 Pts, +1 GD; Portugal 2 Pts, 0 GD, Japan 2 Pts, −1 GD

24 July 2021 14:15	Sweden	32–31	Bahrain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Wanne 13	(16–18)	Habib 6
	1× 3×	Report	1× 5×

24 July 2021 19:30	Portugal	31–37	Egypt	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Ferraz 6	(15–15)	Hesham 7
	2× 5×	Report	1× 2×

24 July 2021 21:30	Denmark	47–30	Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Holm, Saugstrup 9	(25–14)	Motoki 8
	1× 1×	Report	1× 4×

26 July 2021 14:15	Egypt	27–32	Denmark	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Hesham 6	(15–14)	M. Hansen 9
	5×	Report	2× 5×

26 July 2021 19:30	Bahrain	25–26	Portugal	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Habib 8	(15–14)	Portela 6
	1× 4×	Report	1× 5×

26 July 2021 21:30	Japan	26–28	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Motoki 6	(14–17)	Wanne 8
	1× 4×	Report	1× 1×

28 July 2021 09:00	Denmark	31–21	Bahrain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	J. Hansen 6	(12–7)	four players 3
	1×	Report	3× 3×

28 July 2021 11:00	Sweden	29–28	Portugal	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Ekberg 9	(14–14)	three players 4
	1× 2×	Report	1× 6×

28 July 2021 14:15	Japan	29–33	Egypt	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Tokuda 8	(11–18)	El-Ahmar 8
	1× 7×	Report	2×

30 July 2021 11:00	Bahrain	32–30	Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Al-Sayyad, Habib 7	(17–16)	Motoki 7
	2× 4×	Report	4×

30 July 2021 16:15	Sweden	22–27	Egypt	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Pellas 7	(9–13)	Sanad 6
	2× 2×	Report	2×

30 July 2021 19:30	Portugal	28–34	Denmark	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Branquinho 4	(19–20)	M. Hansen 9
	1× 4×	Report	3×

1 August 2021 09:00	Portugal	30–31	Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	four players 4	(14–16)	R. Tokuda 6
	2× 4×	Report	2× 2×

1 August 2021 11:00	Egypt	30–20	Bahrain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	El-Ahmar 5	(15–7)	Habib 4
	2× 2×	Report	1× 1×

1 August 2021 21:30	Denmark	30–33	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Gidsel, J. Hansen 5	(13–17)	Carlsbogård, Sandell 6
	3× 2×	Report	2× 6×

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Gold medal

3 August

France	42
		5 August
Bahrain	28
		France	27
3 August
		Egypt	23
Germany	26
				7 August
Egypt	31
				France	25
3 August
				Denmark	23
Sweden	33
		5 August
Spain	34
		Spain	23
3 August
		Denmark	27	Bronze medal
Denmark	31
				7 August
Norway	25
				Spain	33

				Egypt	31

Quarterfinals

3 August 2021 09:30	France	42–28	Bahrain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Mahé 9	(21–14)	Al-Sayyad 5
	3×	Report	2× 5×

3 August 2021 13:15	Sweden	33–34	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Wanne 10	(20–18)	Gómez 8
	1× 4×	Report	2× 3×

3 August 2021 17:00	Denmark	31–25	Norway	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	M. Hansen, Holm 8	(13–12)	Sagosen 8
	1× 4×	Report	1× 3× 1×

3 August 2021 20:45	Germany	26–31	Egypt	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Golla, Kühn 6	(12–16)	Omar, Zein 5
	1× 3×	Report	1× 1×

Semifinals

5 August 2021 17:00	France	27–23	Egypt	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Raluy, Sabroso (ESP)
	Descat, Mem 5	(13–13)	El-Ahmar, Omar 5
	3× 3×	Report	1× 1×

5 August 2021 21:00	Spain	23–27	Denmark	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Dujshebaev, Figueras 5	(10–14)	M. Hansen 12
	1× 4×	Report	2×

Bronze medal game

7 August 2021 17:00	Egypt	31–33	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	El-Ahmar, Shebib 7	(16–19)	Gómez 8
	2×	Report	2× 4× 1×

Gold medal game

7 August 2021 21:00	France	25–23	Denmark	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Remili 5	(14–10)	M. Hansen 9
	4×	Report	1× 1×

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Rank	Team^[14]
	France
	Denmark
	Spain
4	Egypt
5	Sweden
6	Germany
7	Norway
8	Bahrain
9	Portugal
10	Brazil
11	Japan
12	Argentina

All Star Team

The all-star team was announced on 7 August 2021.^[15]

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Vincent Gérard
Right wing	Aleix Gómez
Right back	Yahia Omar
Centre back	Nedim Remili
Left back	Mikkel Hansen
Left wing	Hugo Descat
Pivot	Ludovic Fabregas
MVP	Mathias Gidsel

Top goalscorers


Rank	Name	Goals	Shots	%
1	Mikkel Hansen	61	100	61
2	Mathias Gidsel	46	57	81
3	Aleix Gómez	44	47	94
4	Sander Sagosen	43	82	52
5	Hampus Wanne	41	57	72
6	Yahia Omar	38	63	60
7	Adrià Figueras	37	47	79
8	Ahmed El-Ahmar	36	49	73
9	Hugo Descat	32	37	86
9	Nedim Remili	32	52	62

Source: IHF

With his fourth goal against Portugal Mikkel Hansen became the Olympic Games topscorer of all time with 128 goals.^[16]

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	%	Saves	Shots
1	Johannes Bitter	33.3	32	96
2	Niklas Landin Jacobsen	32.1	63	196
3	Karim Handawy	31.7	59	186
4	Torbjørn Bergerud	31.5	51	162
5	Gustavo Capdeville	31.4	22	70
6	Vincent Gérard	31.4	74	236
7	Mikael Aggefors	30.4	24	79
8	Leonardo Terçariol	30.2	39	129
9	Mohamed El-Tayar	29.7	38	128
10	Andreas Palicka	28.3	47	166

Source: IHF

References

^ "Men's Handball at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games". Olympedia. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
^ "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". olympic.org. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
^ "Tokyo Olympics to be held without fans after new COVID-19 state of emergency declared". usatoday.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
^ "Denmark end France's grip on Olympic title". ihf.info. 21 August 2016.
^ "France beat Denmark to win Olympic gold in men's handball". france24.com. 7 August 2021.
^ "Handball-Spain claim bronze with 33–31 victory over Egypt". reuters.com. 7 August 2021.
^ "Handball Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
^ "Draw details for Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments known". ihf.info. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^ "Results: Tokyo 2020 draws". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
^ "Draw and seeding information: Tokyo 2020 Men's Hanbdball Tournament". ihf.info. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
^ "IHF announces referees for Tokyo 2020". ihf.info. 21 April 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 preliminary round clashes revealed". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments – Match schedule confirmed". ihf.info. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^ "Tournament Summary" (PDF). olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 Men's All-star Team". ihf.info. 7 August 2021.
^ Kjær, Christian. "Mikkel Hansen er den mest scorende OL-spiller nogensinde". TV 2. Danish TV 2. Retrieved 31 July 2021.

External links

[table_hth_FRA0.72207870926805-14] France 36–31 Spain

[table_hth_GER0.72207870926805-15] Germany 28–23 Norway

[table_hth_DEN0.032077806085384-16] Denmark 2 Pts, +2 GD; Egypt 2 Pts, 0 GD, Sweden 2 Pts, −2 GD

[table_hth_BHR0.032077806085384-17] Bahrain 2 Pts, +1 GD; Portugal 2 Pts, 0 GD, Japan 2 Pts, −1 GD

[Olympedia-1] "Men's Handball at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games". Olympedia. Retrieved November 2, 2023.

[2] "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". olympic.org. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

[3] "Tokyo Olympics to be held without fans after new COVID-19 state of emergency declared". usatoday.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

[4] "Denmark end France's grip on Olympic title". ihf.info. 21 August 2016.

[5] "France beat Denmark to win Olympic gold in men's handball". france24.com. 7 August 2021.

[6] "Handball-Spain claim bronze with 33–31 victory over Egypt". reuters.com. 7 August 2021.

[7] "Handball Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.

[8] "Draw details for Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments known". ihf.info. Retrieved 26 March 2021.

[9] "Results: Tokyo 2020 draws". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.

[10] "Draw and seeding information: Tokyo 2020 Men's Hanbdball Tournament". ihf.info. Retrieved 14 March 2021.

[11] "IHF announces referees for Tokyo 2020". ihf.info. 21 April 2021.

[12] "Tokyo 2020 preliminary round clashes revealed". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.

[13] "Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments – Match schedule confirmed". ihf.info. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

[18] "Tournament Summary" (PDF). olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

[19] "Tokyo 2020 Men's All-star Team". ihf.info. 7 August 2021.

[20] Kjær, Christian. "Mikkel Hansen er den mest scorende OL-spiller nogensinde". TV 2. Danish TV 2. Retrieved 31 July 2021.

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