# 1938 World Men's Handball Championship

The 1938 World Men's Handball Championship was the first ever handball World Championship. It was played in Germany on 5 and 6 February 1938. Contested by just 4 national teams, the tournament was won by hosts Germany.

## History

Only two years before at the fourth IAHF congress the first international rules for indoor handball were created. The only game between indoor handball national teams had been played between the Danish and Swedish teams in Copenhagen on 8 March 1935. Sweden had won 18 to 12. In Germany and Austria indoor handball was not regularly played and they had no international appearance yet. An unofficial German national team like team played at tournament in Copenhagen on 28 August 1934.

## Venues

All games were played in the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin. The court had the dimensions 50 × 25 meter (today 40 × 20 meter) and the games were 2 × 15 minutes (today (2× 30 minutes).
| Berlin | Berlin |
| Deutschlandhalle | Berlin |
| Capacity: 8,764 | Berlin |

## Referees

One referee from Denmark and two from Germany were refereeing the games.

## Results

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | | | | |
| | Germany (H, C) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 9 | +14 | 6 | — | 5–4 | 7–2 | 11–3 |
| | Austria | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 4 | — | — | 5–4 | 7–2 |
| | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 2 | — | — | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 20 | −14 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 5 February 1938 21:05 | Germany | 11–3 | Denmark | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 5 February 1938 21:05 | Theilig 4 Obermark 3 Mahnkopf 2 Ortmann & Schauer 1 | (4–3) | S. Madsen, W. Madsen & Nielsen 1 | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 5 February 1938 21:05 | | Report Denmark | | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 5 February 1938 21:50 | Sweden | 4–5 | Austria | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 Referees: Carl F.H. Sörensen (DNK) |
| 5 February 1938 21:50 | Lamberg 3 Åblad 1 | (2–2) | Perwein 2 Cerny, Tauscher & Volak 1 | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 Referees: Carl F.H. Sörensen (DNK) |
| 5 February 1938 21:50 | | Report Sweden | | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 Referees: Carl F.H. Sörensen (DNK) |
| 6 February 1938 20:15 | Denmark | 1–2 | Sweden | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 Referees: Hans Schwinietsky (GER) |
| 6 February 1938 20:15 | W. Madsen 1 | (1–1) | Lamberg 2 | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 Referees: Hans Schwinietsky (GER) |
| 6 February 1938 20:15 | | Report Denmark Report Sweden | | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 Referees: Hans Schwinietsky (GER) |
| 6 February 1938 20:45 | Germany | 5–4 | Austria | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |
| 6 February 1938 20:45 | Obermark 2 Ortmann, Mahnkopf & Theilig 1 | (4–2) | Houschka, Perwein, Schmalzer & Tauscher 1 | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |
| 6 February 1938 22:20 | Denmark | 2–7 | Austria | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |
| 6 February 1938 22:20 | Jørner & Piasecki 1 | (0–3) | Tauscher 3 Volak 2 Houschka & Perwein 1 | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |
| 6 February 1938 22:20 | | Report Denmark | | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |
| 6 February 1938 22:45 | Germany | 7–2 | Sweden | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 Referees: Carl F.H. Sörensen (DNK) |
| 6 February 1938 22:45 | Ortmann 2 Hömke, Obermark, Schauer, Theilig & Zimmermann 1 | (3–1) | Åblad & Lamberg 1 | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 Referees: Carl F.H. Sörensen (DNK) |
| 6 February 1938 22:45 | | Report Sweden | | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 Referees: Carl F.H. Sörensen (DNK) |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Name | Nation | Goals |
| 1 | Yngve Lamberg | Sweden | 6 |
| 1 | Hans-Werner Obermark | Germany | 6 |
| 1 | Hans Theilig | Germany | 6 |
| 4 | Rudolf Tauscher | Austria | 5 |
| 5 | Günther Ortmann | Germany | 4 |
| 5 | Jaroslav Volak | Austria | 4 |
| 7 | Kurt Mahnkopf | Germany | 3 |
| 7 | Anton Perwein | Austria | 3 |
| 9 | Sven Åblad | Sweden | 2 |
| 9 | Hans Houschka | Austria | 2 |
| 9 | Walter Madsen | Denmark | 2 |
| 9 | Gerd Schauer | Germany | 2 |
| 13 | 8 players | | 1 |

## Medallist Squads

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Germany | Austria | Sweden |
| Karl Herbolzheimer Herbert Scmidt Gerard Brüntgens Walter Homke Hans Keiter Kurt Lubenow Kurt Mahnkopf Hans Obermark Günther Ortmann Gerd Schauer Will Steininger Hans Theilig Adolar Woczinski Philipp Zimmermann | Franz Axmann Otto Cerny Hans Houschka Zdenko Kucera Robert Leu Otto Licha Ferdinand Mantler Anton Perwein Alfred Schmalzer Alois Schnabel Rudolf Tauscher Jaroslav Volak Leopold Woh | Sven Åblad Torsten Andersson Erik Floberg Åke Forslund Stig Hjortsberg Sture Hultberg Åke Kallerdahl Yngve Lamberg Roland Nilsson Allan Rollander Sigfrid Schönning Tage Sjöberg Gustaf Adolf Thoren |

## City tournament

Besides the World Men's Handball Championship there was also a city tournament played. Berlin won the city tournament.
| 5 February 1938 20:15 | Frankfurt | 5–6 | Munich | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 5 February 1938 20:40 | Berlin | 11–7 | Königsberg | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 5 February 1938 22:20 | Munich | v | Königsberg | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 5 February 1938 22:45 | Berlin | v | Munich | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000 |
| 6 February 1938 21:15 | Munich | v | Königsberg | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |
| 6 February 1938 21:55 | Berlin | v | Frankfurt | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000 |