Finland's page for 11-man team handball


11-MAN TEAM HANDBALL IN FINLAND
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 This sport was played in the 20th century outdoors
on soccerfields and was also called fieldball.
It co-existed for decades alongside the 7-man team
handball, but finally ran out of steam in the
1960's and was dropped altogether. When handball
made its olympic comeback in 1972 in West Germany,
it was the 7-man version played indoors.

Finland's page for 7-man team handball

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1928
1931 1934 1936 1938
1940 1941 1946 1948 1949
1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1963 1966 1968-1970
European Cup
finnish championships finnish internationals
Jukka Hakola
IAHF IHF internationals
Aarre Klinga
olympic games
Lauri Pihkala
SKPL
Jaakko Tuominen
Oskari Väänänen
world championships world championships, women

1928

4 August (Cologne)
During the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the International Amateur Handball Federation (IAHF) is formed. Finland is represented by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala. 1931
Oskari Väänänen's book "Käsipallo" is published. This is the very first finnish publication on team handball. 1934
31 August (Stockholm, Stockholms Stadion)
Sweden-Germany 7-18
The very first international in any kind of team handball.
The first 7-man international was later played in 1935 indoors in Copenhagen. 1936
(Berlin) Olympic Games
On the 14th of August, Germany wins at Olympia-Stadion Austria in the final game with 10-6 in front of 80,000 people. The audience remains the biggest ever for any team handball game.
1938
7-10 July (Germany)
First world championships. Germany wins the final in Berlin against Switzerland with 23-0. 1940
7-man team handball games are played (outdoors) for the first time in Finland. Within the next years, this form is growing rapidly with many indoor games in Helsinki and Turku. 1941

23 May (Helsinki)
The finnish handball association is formed.
1946
11 July (Copenhagen)
The International Handball Federation (IHF) is formed. Finland is one of the founding members.
1948
17 May (Stockholm)
Sweden-Finland 26-0
Following a few internationals in 7-man handball, this is a shaky debut in 11-man handball for our unexperienced team. It is still the biggest defeat (indoors or outdoors) for any male national handball team of Finland. Part of the qualification round for the World Championships 3-6 June.
Semifinals are played in Paris and in Saarbrücken. Sweden is the final champion, beating Denmark in Paris with 11-4. 1949
25-28 September (Hungary)
Women's first World Championships are staged, with Romania as the winner. 1951
(West Germany in the late summer)
Finland's under-22 team plays at least in Flensburg in a tournament, ending up on third place. Jukka Hakola also participates in the game Germany vs Rest-of-Europe. 1952
8-15 June (Switzerland)
German combined team is the winner in the championships. In the final in Zürich Sweden takes a defeat with 19-8.
Saarland also take part, but cannot make it to the top six.

Athletic games at Olympiastadion

31 July (Helsinki, Olympiastadion)
Olympic Games. Sweden beats Denmark in a friendly before 13,175 people. The audience remains the biggest ever for any team handball game in Finland.

1953

(Ekenäs)
Arsenal wins the first unofficial finnish championship. 1954
Official finnish championships are staged for the first time. Karhun Pojat wins the title, beating BK-46 in the cup final with 13-8. 1955
29 June-10 July (West Germany)
Finland plays two games in the World Championships, group 3:
29 June (Lörrach) Switzerland-Finland 13-7
30 June (Offenburg) Spain-Finland 10-11. Aarre Klinga scores seven times for Finland
The home team reaches the gold medals, securing it against Switzerland in the last game with 25-13 in Dortmund.
The last big competition for Saarland, finishing at place six.

Outdoors finnish championships are held for the second time. Karhun Pojat wins the title, beating Arsenal in the cup final with 14-10.

1956

Karhun Pojat wins the champion title for the third time in a row, beating BK-46 in the cup final with 10-8.

1-8 July (Germany)
Romania defends succesfully its title in the women's World Championships, with only a narrow 6-5 win against West Germany.

1957

Outdoors finnish championships are played for the forth time. BK-46 brings the gold outside of Helsinki, with KaPo finishing second and Haukat third.

(Moscow, 3. friendly tournament)
2 August Soviet Union-Finland 19-2
4 August East Germany-Finland 19-5
6 August Romania-Finland 17-4
8 August Czechoslovakia-Finland 25-10
These were the last ones for any finnish national team in 11-man handball. East Germany is the winner in the tournament.
In his first internationals, young referee Jaakko Tuominen takes the whistle in two games in the women's competetion:
2 August Romania-Soviet Union
6 August Soviet Union-East Germany

1958

Outdoors finnish championships are played for the fifth time. BK-46 plays against Haukat in the cup finals. Following a 11-14 defeat in the first one, the Karis team turns with a 21-13 victory in the second game. 1959
The last finnish championship with 11 men on the field. BK-46 takes with a 16-14 final win its third consecutive gold before KaPo.

13-21 June (Austria)
Germany is again the world champion at the competitions. Romania takes a 11-14 defeat in the final.

1960

12-19 June (Netherlands)
Romania is the last women's world champion in 11-man team handball with a 10-2 win in the final against Austria. 1963
3-9 June (Switzerland)
World Championships now with East Germany at the top, beating West Germany with 14-7 in the climax.
The only participation for Israel and the USA in 11-man world championships. 1966
25 June-3 July (Austria)
The very last World Championship with 11 man with West Germany winning on better goal difference, as a draw 15-15 in the last game versus East Germany is enough. 1968-1970
European Cup for men is played for three consecutive summers.
1-2 June 1968 (Linz)
24-26 May 1969 (North Rhine-Westphalia)
16-18 May 1970 (West Germany)
The teams came from West Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
TSV Grün-Weiss Dankersen-Minden from West Germany took the title every year.

World Championships history page, men

World Championships history page, women

Finland's page for 7-man team handball

Jens Backlund 21 Jun 2021