Free Handball scoreboard

Why score Handball with ScoreZen

• ✓One-tap scoring, built for Handball
• ✓Share the live score by QR code or link
• ✓Free for spectators — no app to install to watch
• ✓Keeps working if the connection drops
• ✓34 sports, tournaments and standings included

How Handball scoring works

Each ball that fully enters the goal counts as 1 point (1 goal). A goal is valid once the ball has completely crossed the goal line between the posts in a legal action. There are no multi-point shots: every goal counts as 1, regardless of distance.

Match format

Standard playing time (age 16 and over) is two halves of 30 minutes, separated by a roughly 10-minute break. For younger categories the duration is shorter (often 2 x 25 or 2 x 20 minutes depending on the federation). If a winner is required after a draw, overtime and then a 7-metre throw shootout may be used.

How to win

The team that has scored the most goals at the end of regulation time wins the match. A match may end in a draw, unless the competition rules require a winner (overtime, then 7-metre throws).

Recommended ScoreZen setup

Set up handball with simple incremental scoring (+1 per goal) across two timed periods. The Official preset gives 2 x 30 minutes; the Casual preset shortens the period length, and you can also set the number and length of periods manually (e.g. 2 x 25 / 2 x 20 for youth). No target score: you end the match yourself when time runs out.

How handball scoring works, exactly

A handball goal is worth one point. Just one. No sets, no bonus shots, no three-point line. The goal counts when the whole ball has completely crossed the goal line between the posts, and the attacking team committed no offence before that.

A senior match, from 16 years old, is two halves of 30 minutes with a 10-minute break. Youth teams play 2x25 minutes from 12 to 16, and 2x20 minutes from 8 to 12, with the same break. The clock runs continuously. The referees stop it for a 2-minute suspension, a team time-out, a whistle from the table, or a consultation between referees. The score is cumulative: the second half carries on from the first-half total and never resets.

In a league match, a draw is a draw. In a knockout game where a winner is needed, there is a 5-minute break, then overtime of two halves of 5 minutes with a 1-minute break between them. Still level? A second overtime, same shape, after another 5-minute break.

If the teams are still tied, competition rules usually go to 7-metre throws. Each team names five players who shoot alternately. Still level after five each? Both teams name five players again and shoot until one leads after an equal number of throws. And remember: a 7-metre throw awarded is not a point. It only counts if the ball goes in. (Sources: IHF, Rules of the Game - Indoor Handball, rules 2 and 9; FFHandball, general competition regulations.)

The counting mistakes handball tables make

The fast throw-off is the big one. After a goal, play restarts from the centre almost immediately. Two goals in ten seconds is ordinary handball. If you look down to write, you miss the next one. Count first, write after.

Wrong shirt number is the second. Wings and pivots score in traffic, and the player who wins a 7-metre is often not the one who takes it. Say the number out loud, and have the second person at the table repeat it back. If nobody confirms, write a question mark rather than a wrong number. A blank you fix at half-time beats a false line on the sheet.

Three more traps. A 7-metre awarded is not a goal - mark it only when it goes in, and cancel any goal the referees disallow. A defender who deflects the ball into their own net gives the point to the other team. And a 2-minute suspension runs in playing time, not on your wristwatch: time-outs do not count towards it.

Finally, the buzzer and the break. If the ball crossed the line before the final signal, the goal stands. Never close the sheet the second the buzzer sounds. And never reset at half-time - write the half-time total down before you leave the table.

Keeping score on match day

Two people, not one. Handball uses a timekeeper and a secretary at the table. In French league play the home club supplies the timekeeper and the visiting club the secretary. At grassroots level one volunteer often does both, which is exactly when goals get lost. Agree who does what before the throw-off, not at 12-11.

Sit at the table on the halfway line, on the substitution side, facing the court. You need to see both goal lines and both substitution lines. Never sit behind a bench: you will spend the game looking at backs. Work out loud - the timekeeper calls the colour and the number, the secretary repeats it. Two voices catch what one pair of eyes misses.

When the score is contested, the referees have the last word. Do not argue during play. Wait for the next stoppage, let the referees call time-out, then show your record. Fix it before the restart. A score corrected five minutes later is a score nobody trusts.

Show the score to everyone. Scoreboard if the hall has one, otherwise a screen, a tablet or a phone turned towards the benches and the stand. Both coaches should be able to read it without asking you. Say the score out loud at half-time and at the final signal.

What ScoreZen changes for handball

One big tap per team, on the phone already in your hand. That is built for handball's rhythm: fast throw-offs, goals in bursts, a 30-30 final score. No paper juggling while the ball is back in play.

Everyone who could not come to the hall follows by link or QR code. Spectators are free, unlimited, and need no account - which matters when a youth match has forty parents. Put the match on the hall screen or a projector with full-screen TV mode, and if the club streams, drop the transparent overlay into OBS so the score sits on the video.

Gym basements eat mobile signal. ScoreZen keeps counting offline and syncs when the signal returns. You can still print the A4 scoresheet as your paper backup for the table.

For a weekend youth tournament: knockout, league, groups, Swiss system, best-of-3 or best-of-5 series, and rotating teams. With several courts running, a QR code lets the players count their own match. Afterwards, share the replay and the story, embed the widget on the club site, pull the season out as CSV, or read it through the public API. Twenty-five languages when foreign clubs come.

Three trial matches for life, then €1.99 once, for life. Spectators never pay.

Frequently asked questions