Handball is a sport that tends to be in the media spotlight only at World Cups and Olympic Games. On a day-to-day basis it struggles, always in the shadow of football and basketball, the two great team games of the world.
That’s why, because the great handball fans don’t stop there, it’s best to take a look at the major championships, knowing the differences in order to bet on each one of them.
Olympic Games
As with many team sports, in fact the vast majority, it is at the Olympic Games where handball achieves a great deal of popularity.
In fact, in countries where handball is little followed on a day-to-day basis, audiences soar when the Games come around, riding the wave of passion for sports that can’t fight the big media events. But at the Olympic Games, all sports are media events, and in handball it is very noticeable.
It is easy to bet here, but there is little money to be made, especially in the early rounds. There is a big difference between the big European teams (France, Germany, Denmark, Croatia, Spain, Sweden, etc.) and the rest. Only in the knockout rounds can there be any surprises.
That’s why the ideal is to follow the preparatory matches and the group stage to find out who is in the best shape, without forgetting, of course, which teams really know how to play the big games. A mixture of both (form and experience) is what you have to mix when it comes to making predictions.
World Cup
Handball World Cups are held every two years, which allows for better monitoring of the teams, which tend not to change so much every two seasons.
The format is similar to that of the Olympic Games, with a group stage with very uneven matches and a single-elimination knockout finals where there is usually more competition.
And as in the Olympics, the classic dominators usually reach the finals, with a few exceptions (Qatar was runner-up the year they hosted the tournament).
This makes it possible to place more or less easy bets at the beginning and that, even in the finals, there are no big surprises. Obviously, this tends to prevent winning bets at high odds, but this shouldn’t be a problem either.
European
Being a very European sport, although it is true that some Latin American countries are already starting to have a good level, the European is a tournament with a really amazing quality in terms of participants.
It is held every two years and, in relation to betting, the strategy is exactly the same as in the World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Champions League
The best club competition in the world. Of course, the best teams in Europe are represented and it is where the best handball can be seen.
Moreover, in this tournament there is usually no clear dominator and, therefore, surprises are often the order of the day. Here it is necessary to follow the season week by week in order to bet well.
If you don’t have good information, following each matchday, it would be better not to bet. This is the tournament where you need to be more attentive, without any doubt.
National leagues and cups
Unless you are a handball nut, depending on the country you live in, you will follow one league or another. The strongest leagues are the German, French and Spanish leagues, and all three also have their respective cups.
In these leagues there is usually quite a big difference between the big and small teams, so there are few surprises. This makes it perfect for betting on a combination of matches where we know the result in advance with a high degree of certainty.
Why is that? That’s explained in the next section, where we explain how to bet on handball.
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