# Handball at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

The qualification for the 1976 Women's Olympic Handball Tournament assigned quota places to six teams: the host, four teams from the world championships and one team from the qualification tournament respectively.

## Qualification

| Qualification | Date | Host | Berths | Qualified |
| Host nation | 12 May 1970 | Amsterdam | 1 | Canada |
| 1975 World Championship | 2–13 December 1975 | Soviet Union | 4 | East Germany Soviet Union Hungary Romania |
| Intercontinental qualification | 28 June – 3 July 1976 | Milwaukee | 1 | Japan |
| Total | | | 6 | |

## Modus

The IHF proposed that the host and the top five from the last world championships (WC) would qualify. The USA proposed that besides the host only the top four from the WC would qualify. The last spot would be given to the winner of an additional tournament. At this tournament, the champions from Africa, America, and Asia would attend. Finland proposed that the sixth place would be given to the winner of a game between the 5th place team at the WC and the winner of a tournament between the champions from Africa, America, and Asia.
France presented the following arguments for the American proposal:
* The Olympic thought is that all continents are represented
* It would be great propaganda for handball on these continents
* It's not technical risk. Because the level of Japan is good enough and they would most likely win the qualification tournament.
The proposal from the USA received 25 votes, from Finland 12 votes, and the proposal from the IHF 10 votes.

## Legend for qualification type

Qualified :
| Key | From | To |
| | World Championship | Olympic Tournament |
| | World Championship | Qualification Tournament |

## World Championship

| Rank | Team |
| | East Germany |
| | Soviet Union |
| | Hungary |
| 4 | Romania |
| 5 | Yugoslavia |
| 6 | Czechoslovakia |
| 7 | Poland |
| 8 | Norway |
| 9 | Denmark |
| 10 | Japan |
| 11 | United States |
| 12 | Tunisia |

## Qualification tournament

The 1976 IHF Olympic qualification tournament was held in the United States. The winner of the tournament qualified for the 1976 Summer Olympics. Japan represented Asia, Tunisia represented Africa and the United States represented America.

### Qualification

| Qualification | Date | Host | Berths | Qualified |
| 1975 World Championship – Asian qualification | | | 1 | Japan |
| 1976 African Championship | 18. April 1976 | Algeria | 1 | Tunisia |
| American representative | | | 1 | United States |
| Total | | | 3 | |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Japan | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 46 | +34 | 8 | 1976 Summer Olympics |
| 2 | United States (H) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 64 | 63 | +1 | 4 | |
| 3 | Tunisia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 38 | 73 | −35 | 0 | |

### Matches

All times are local (UTC-5).
| 28 June 1976 | United States | 13–8 | Tunisia | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 28 June 1976 | | (6–6) | | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 29 June 1976 | Japan | 20–9 | Tunisia | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 29 June 1976 | | (11–3) | | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 30 June 1976 21:00 | United States | 17–23 | Japan | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 30 June 1976 21:00 | | (7–12) | Kurata & Shimada 6 | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 1 July 1976 | Tunisia | 13–22 | United States | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 1 July 1976 | | (8–10) | Lillis 8 | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 2 July 1976 | Tunisia | 8–18 | Japan | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 2 July 1976 | | (7–9) | | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 3 July 1976 19:00 | Japan | 19–12 | United States | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |
| 3 July 1976 19:00 | | (11-6) | | Whitefish Bay Field House, Milwaukee |