An IHF handball court is 40 m (131 ft 3 in) long and 20 m (65 ft 7 in) wide. In front of each goal, the goal-area line (6-meter line) is a 3 m flat section plus two quarter circles of 6 m radius struck from the goalposts. The dashed free-throw line (9-meter line) uses the same construction 3 m further out, but its arcs fall short of a full quarter circle. A 9 m radius from a post only 1.5 m off the centerline would need 10.5 m of room, and the court is just 10 m wide from the middle, so each arc stops at the side line instead. The goal is 3 m wide by 2 m high, with posts 8 cm square.
Court diagram
Full court dimensions
Every figure below comes from the IHF Rules of the Game for Indoor Handball, Edition 1 July 2024. Each one is taken either from Rule 1 itself, which is binding, or from Section V, “Guidelines for Playing Courts and Goals,” which the rule book’s own foreword says is included only for convenience and is “not an integral part of the rules.” Rows sourced only to that section are marked Recommendation, not Official rule. The distinction matters most for the goal net depth below, where the two sections print different numbers.
| Measurement | Figure | Applies to | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Court length | 40 m (131 ft 3 in) | IHF, all indoor handball | Official rule |
| Court width | 20 m (65 ft 7 in) | IHF, all indoor handball | Official rule |
| Full-court diagonal (squaring check) | 44.72 m (146 ft 8 in) | IHF, all indoor handball | Derived calculation |
| Line width, general | 5 cm (2 in) | All lines except the goal line | Official rule |
| Line width, goal line | 8 cm (3.1 in) | Between the goalposts only | Official rule |
| Goal-area line (6-meter line) | 3 m flat section, 6 m out, plus two 6 m radius quarter-circle arcs | Both ends | Official rule |
| Goal-area line, outer span at the goal line | 15 m (49 ft 3 in) | Both ends | Derived calculation |
| Free-throw line (9-meter line) | Concentric with the 6 m line, 3 m further out; dashed, 15 cm segments and gaps | Both ends | Official rule |
| 7-meter line | 1 m long, 7 m from the goal line | Both ends | Official rule |
| Goalkeeper’s restraining line (4-meter line) | 15 cm long, 4 m from the goal line | Both ends | Official rule |
| Throw-off area (center circle) | 4 m diameter | Mandatory for IHF events and senior pro leagues; optional otherwise | Official rule |
| Substitution line | 4.5 m from the center line, with a 30 cm end tick (15 cm each side) | Both side lines | Official rule |
| Safety zone, minimum | 1 m at the sides, 2 m behind the goals | All indoor courts | Official rule |
| Goal, interior width x height | 3 m x 2 m (9 ft 10 in x 6 ft 7 in) | Both goals | Official rule |
| Goalpost and crossbar section | 8 cm square (3.1 in), rounded edges | Both goals | Official rule |
| Goal net depth, Rule 1’s own diagram | 1.0 m at the top, 1.3-1.5 m at the bottom | Both goals, per Diagram 2b | Official rule |
| Goal net depth, non-binding guideline | approx. 0.9 m at the top, 1.1 m at the bottom, +/- 0.1 m | Both goals, per the Guidelines appendix | Recommendation |
| Timekeeper/scorekeeper table | At least 50 cm outside the side line | The side line opposite the substitution benches | Official rule |
The goal-area line and the free-throw line
Both lines in front of each goal are built the same way, from the same two points: the goalposts. Rule 1:4 draws the goal-area line (the “6-meter line”) as a 3 m straight section parallel to the goal line and 6 m in front of it. On each side it continues as a quarter circle of 6 m radius, centered on the rear inner corner of the nearest goalpost, which runs out to meet the goal line again 7.5 m either side of the post. That makes 15 m in total, a figure Guideline V.b states directly and this page’s own geometry reproduces.
The free-throw line (the “9-meter line”) copies that construction. Guideline V.c describes it as “parallel and concentric to the goal-area line with a 3 m larger distance,” meaning the same two goalpost centers, just at a 9 m radius instead of 6 m. On a court only 20 m wide, that is where the resemblance stops. A full quarter circle at 6 m radius reaches 7.5 m from the center, comfortably inside the 10 m half-width. A full quarter circle at 9 m radius would need to reach 10.5 m, half a meter past the side line, and there is no room for it. Solve for where a 9 m circle centered on the post actually meets the side line and you get an angle of 70.81 degrees out of the theoretical 90. Each arc of the free-throw line stops there, roughly 3 m in front of the goal line rather than at it. We checked that against the IHF’s own dimensioned court diagram instead of assuming the two lines share a construction the whole way through, and the diagram sheet below draws the difference to scale.
The free-throw line’s segments and the gaps between them are both 15 cm, “cut off right-angled and radially respectively.” On a straight section the dashes are cut square across the line; on a curved section they are cut along the radius, and a curved dash is measured over its outer chord rather than its arc length. Most rule books never publish drafting detail at that level.
The goal
The goal is 3 m wide and 2 m high on the inside, with the rear of each post in line with the rear edge of the goal line. Post and crossbar share an 8 cm square cross-section, painted in bands of two contrasting colors: 28 cm at the corner where post meets bar, 20 cm everywhere else. The frame also has a squareness tolerance, something most sports never state for a piece of equipment. Its two inside diagonals must each measure 360.5 cm, within a 360-361 cm band, and no more than 0.5 cm apart from each other.
The net depth is where the rule book disagrees with itself. Rule 1’s own Diagram 2b, the lateral-view drawing Rule 1:2 names directly, is dimensioned 1.0 m deep at the top of the goal and 1.3 to 1.5 m at the bottom. Section V’s “Guidelines for Playing Courts and Goals” (which the rule book’s foreword explicitly says is not part of the rules) prints 0.9 m at the top and 1.1 m at the bottom instead, each with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.1 m. Even with the tolerance, those figures don’t reconcile with the diagram, and both sit in the same PDF. We record both rather than average them or quietly pick one, and we treat the diagram’s own numbers as the official ones, since they illustrate a numbered rule and the guideline explicitly doesn’t.
Other markings
Two more short lines sit directly in front of each goal. They are easy to mix up, because both are centered on the same spot and named for a distance. The 7-meter line, the penalty-throw mark, is a full meter long and 7 m out. The goalkeeper’s restraining line (the 4-meter line) is only 15 cm long, 4 m out; on a 7-meter throw, a goalkeeper may not cross it, or its projection to either side, before the ball leaves the thrower’s hand.
A 4 m diameter circle at the center of the halfway line marks the throw-off area, drawn either as a colored area or as a circle line. It is mandatory for IHF events and senior professional leagues and optional at other levels. Each side line carries a substitution line running from the center line out to a point 4.5 m away, ticked 15 cm inside and 15 cm outside the side line. Players may only enter or leave the court across this segment, and a faulty substitution is a 2-minute suspension. The whole court must sit inside a safety zone of at least 1 m along the side lines and 2 m behind the goals.
Overhead plan
The same surface seen from straight above, drawn to scale. Nothing is foreshortened here, so every figure can be read off the drawing the way a tape measure would take it.
Detail sheet
A rule book fixes more than the shape of the surface, and the rest of it is too small to draw at court scale: a mark a few centimeters long, a post standing a meter off the sideline, the clearance around the whole thing. Each one here has its own frame and its own scale.
Frequently asked questions
What are the official dimensions of a handball court?
40 m long by 20 m wide (131 ft 3 in by 65 ft 7 in), per Rule 1:1 of the IHF Rules of the Game. Unlike a soccer pitch, the size is fixed rather than a permitted range: every IHF-regulation indoor court is built to exactly these dimensions.
How far out is the 6-meter line, and what shape is it?
The goal-area line is 6 m from the goal line at its closest. It runs straight for 3 m directly in front of goal, then curves away on each side as a quarter circle of 6 m radius struck from the goalpost, back to the goal line 7.5 m either side of the post. That makes it 15 m across in total.
Does the 9-meter free-throw line reach all the way to the side line?
No, and this is the detail most court diagrams online get wrong. The free-throw line’s arcs are struck from the same goalpost centers as the 6-meter line’s, just at a 9 m radius, but a full quarter circle at that radius would need to reach 10.5 m from the center of a court that is only 10 m wide from the middle. Each arc stops where it meets the side line instead, about 3 m in front of the goal line. It covers less than a full 90 degrees and never touches the goal line.
How big is a handball goal?
3 m wide by 2 m high on the inside (9 ft 10 in by 6 ft 7 in), with posts and crossbar 8 cm square. A soccer goal is 7.32 m by 2.44 m, so a handball goal is less than half as wide and 44 cm lower.
What is the difference between the 7-meter line and the 4-meter line?
The 7-meter line is the penalty mark, a full meter long, 7 m from the goal line. The 4-meter line is the goalkeeper’s restraining line, only 15 cm long and 4 m from the goal line. The goalkeeper cannot cross it, or its projection, until a 7-meter throw leaves the thrower’s hand. Both are centered in front of goal, which is why they are easy to confuse at a glance.
Is beach handball the same size court?
No. Beach handball has its own IHF rule book, with play on sand, different dimensions and different scoring. This page covers indoor (team) handball only, which is what “handball court dimensions” almost always refers to.
Official sources
- International Handball Federation, Rules of the Game for Indoor Handball, Edition 1 July 2024, Rule 1 (The Playing Court, Diagrams 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3) and Section V (Guidelines for Playing Courts and Goals, Diagram 5).
Checked against that document on 10 September 2026, including a pixel-level check of its own dimensioned court diagram to confirm the free-throw line’s arcs stop at the side line rather than the goal line. The methodology page explains how each figure is labeled as a rule or a guideline; report an error through corrections.