Basics How long does a handball game last?
A regulation handball match consists of 2 30-minute halves separated by a 10-15 minute half time. The clock starts from 0:00 and counts up to 60:00 (tournaments often feature overtime and / or penalty shoot-outs to avoid draws). Each coach can request a 1-minute timeout each half. The clock normally is not stopped due to fouls etc, unless a player is injured. However, during the last minutes of the game, the referees will often call timeouts after fouls. This is done in order to reduce tensions, but also to avoid that the defense runs down the clock by making fouls or not handing over the ball quickly enough.
