page_title: Sport in Germany
section_title: Handball
hierarchical_section_title: Sport in Germany / Handball
caption_attribution_description: English: ,RNL vs. THW, RNL Saison 2014 / 2015,© Copyright: AS Sportfoto / Sörli Binder,www. as-sportfoto.de, SOA_2510_RNLS.Binder Hauptstr. 143 69168 Wiesloch,as-sportfoto@hotmail.de / soerli@hotmail.de,Steuernummer 32035/38579 Finanzamt Heidelberg,
context_page_description: Sport in Germany is an important part of German culture and society.
  In 2006 about 27.5 million people were members of the more than 91,000 sport clubs in Germany. Almost all sports clubs are represented by the German Olympic Sports Federation.
context_section_description: Germany together with Denmark is regarded as the birthplace of handball. The first match of the modern era was officially recorded on 29 October 1917 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin handball trainer Carl Schelenz developed most rules of modern handball. Outdoor Handball had its only Olympic Games appearance in the XIth Olympiad (1936 Berlin Games). The first international match recorded was played on 3 September 1925 between Germany and Austria. 
  Handball is widely regarded to be the second most popular team sport in Germany and when a study conducted by Repucom asked people which sport besides football they preferred a total of 33% voted "Handball" while Basketball came in second with 25% of the votes, Ice hockey got 24% and Volleyball got 11%. Especially the national team attracts a lot of attention and around 16 million TV viewers watched as Germany beat Poland in the 2007 world cup as well as 13 million during the 2016 European cup final. It is also the second most played team sport in Germany with approximately 750,000 active registered players around the country as of 2016. During the 2014–15 HBL season the game between the Rhein-Neckar Löwen and HSV Hamburg broke the world record for most spectators in a handball game with 44,189 spectators in the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt beating the previous record of 36,651 spectators during the 2011 Danish league final between AG København and Bjerringbro-Silkeborg.
  Germany have won the IHF World Men's Handball Championship three times, the very first world cup in 1938, the West Germany team won it in 1978 and the united German team won it at home in 2007. They also have been crowned European champions twice first in 2004 and then in the 2016 rendition of the tournament. In the Olympic Games their efforts have resulted in one gold medal (1936), two silver medals (1984 and 2004) and one Bronze medal (2016). 
  The German Handball Bundesliga is considered to be the most competitive professional league in the world and several teams have won the EHF Champions League. A total of 19 times have a team from Germany won the Champions League as of 2017 which is the most out of any nation.  The most successful team in Germany is by far THW Kiel which have won 20 German titles as well as 3 Champions League titles. They are the only team in German sport history to have managed to go a whole season without losing any points, this feat was achieved during the 2011–2012 season. Traditionally the teams in the league have been situated in smaller cities where the competition from football have not been so though, but during the 21st century more teams from larger cities have emerged such as HSV Hamburg, TSV Hannofer-Burgdorf, TVB Stuttgart, SC DHfK Leipzig and Füchse Berlin.
caption: Handball is one of the most popular team sports and historically evolved in Germany.
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