# 1961 World Men's Handball Championship

The 1961 World Men's Handball Championship was the fourth team handball World Championship. It was held in West Germany between 1–12 March 1961. A united team composed of players from the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany competed. Romania won the championship.

## Results
### Preliminary round

| Date | Venye | Match | Res. | Half |
| 1 Mar | Stuttgart | Sweden - Norway | 15-11 | (11-5) |
| 2 Mar | Bietigheim | Norway - Yugoslavia | 18-17 | (9-9) |
| 3 Mar | Ulm | Sweden - Yugoslavia | 14-12 | (9-8) |
| Group A | Matches | Goals | Points |
| Sweden | 2 | 29-23 | 4 |
| Norway | 2 | 29-32 | 2 |
| Yugoslavia | 2 | 29-32 | 0 |
| Date | Venue | Match | Res. | Half |
| 1 mar | West Berlin | Germany - Netherlands | 33-7 | (11-3) |
| 2 mar | Wolfsburg | France - Netherlands | 21-11 | (7-5) |
| 3 mar | Kiel | Germany - France | 21-7 | (9-2) |
| Group B | Matches | Goals | Points |
| Germany | 2 | 54-14 | 4 |
| France | 2 | 28-32 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 18-54 | 0 |
| Date | Venue | Match | Res. | Half |
| 1 mar | Karlsruhe | Czechoslovakia - Japan | 38-10 | (15-5) |
| 2 mar | Hassloch | Romania - Japan | 29-11 | (14-7) |
| 3 mar | Freiburg | Czechoslovakia - Romania | 12-8 | (3-3) |
| Group C | Matches | Goals | Points |
| Czechoslovakia | 2 | 50-18 | 4 |
| Romania | 2 | 37-23 | 2 |
| Japan | 2 | 21-67 | 0 |
| Date | Venue | Match | Res. | Half |
| 1 Mar | Karlsruhe | Denmark - Iceland | 24-13 | (9-6) |
| 2 Mar | Wiesbaden | Iceland - Switzerland | 14-12 | (7-7) |
| 3 Mar | St. Ingbert | Denmark - Switzerland | 18-13 | (12-5) |
| Group D | Matches | Goals | Points |
| Denmark | 2 | 42-26 | 4 |
| Iceland | 2 | 27-36 | 2 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 25-32 | 0 |

### Main Round

| Date | Venue | Match | Res. | Half |
| 5 Mar | Stuttgart | Sweden - France | 15 - 11 | (7-6) |
| 5 Mar | Stuttgart | Czechoslovakia - Iceland | 15 - 15 | (10-7) |
| 7 Mar | Essen | Sweden - Iceland | 18 - 10 | (7-3) |
| 7 Mar | Essen | Czechoslovakia - France | 25 - 6 | (11-3) |
| 9 Mar | West Berlin | Czechoslovakia - Sweden | 15- 10 | (10-5) |
| 9 Mar | Homberg | Iceland - France | 20 - 13 | (11-3) |
| Group 1 | Matches | Goals | Points |
| Czechoslovakia | 3 | 55-31 | 5 |
| Sweden | 3 | 43-36 | 4 |
| Iceland | 3 | 45-46 | 3 |
| France | 3 | 30-60 | 0 |
| Date | Venue | Match | Res. | Half |
| 5 mar | Dortmund | Germany - Norway | 15- 8 | (10-4) |
| 5 mar | Dortmund | Romania - Denmark | 15 -13 | (6-7) |
| 7 mar | Krefeld | Romania - Germany | 12 - 9 | (7-5) |
| 7 mar | Krefeld | Denmark - Norway | 10 - 9 | (6-7) |
| 9 mar | Münster | Germany - Denmark | 15 - 13 | (6-4) |
| 9 mar | Münster | Romania - Norway | 16 - 14 | (9-6) |
| Group 2 | Matches | Goals | Points |
| Romania | 3 | 43-36 | 6 |
| Germany | 3 | 39-33 | 4 |
| Denmark | 3 | 36-39 | 2 |
| Norway | 3 | 31-41 | 0 |

### Final matches

| Date | Venue | Match | Score |
| Match for 7th place ||||
| 12 March | Dortmund | France - Norway | 12-13* (7-7, 10-10) |
| Match for 5th place |||
| 11 March | Dortmund | Iceland - Denmark | 13-14 (8-7) |
| Bronze medal match ||||
| 11 March | Dortmund | Sweden - Germany | 17-14 (8-9) |
| Final ||||
| 12 March | Dortmund | Czechoslovakia - Romania | 8-9** (4-4, 7-7, 7-7) |
| *after 1 extra-time ; **after 2 extra-times ||||

## Final standings

| Rank | Team |
| | Romania |
| | Czechoslovakia |
| | Sweden |
| 4 | Germany |
| 5 | Denmark |
| 6 | Iceland |
| 7 | Norway |
| 8 | France |
| 9 | Yugoslavia |
| 10 | Switzerland |
| 11 | Netherlands |
| 12 | Japan |

## Medallists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Romania | Czechoslovakia | Sweden |
| Ioan Bogolea Michael Redl George Bădulescu Aurel Bulgaru Gheorghe Coman Mircea Costache I Mircea Costache II George Covaciu Virgil Hnat Petre Ivănescu Hans Moser Olimpiu Nodea Cornel Oţelea Otto Tellman | František Arnošt Karel Čermák Václav Duda Antonín Frolo Rudolf Havlík František Herman Karol Lukošík Vojtěch Mareš Oskar Poliak Jaroslav Provazník Zdeněk Rada Dušan Ruža Jaroslav Skála František Šobora Josef Trojan Jiří Vícha | Rolf Almqvist Gunnar Brusberg Hans Collin Uno Danielsson Bengt J. Johansson Kjell Jönsson Hans Karlsson Gunnar Kämpendahl Lennart Kärrström Donald Lindblom Hans Olsson Karl-Oskar Olsson Stig-Lennart Olsson Åke Reimer Lennart Ring Rune Åhrling |