1938 World Men's Handball Championship

1938 World Men's Handball Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Germany
Dates	5–6 February 1938
Teams	4
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Germany (1st title)
Runner-up	Austria
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	Denmark
Tournament statistics
Matches	6
Goals scored	53 (8.83 per match)
Attendance	56,000 (9,333 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hans Theilig (each 6)
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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.

Venues[]

All games were played in the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin. The court had the dimensions 50 × 25 meter (today 40 × 20 meter).

Berlin	Berlin
Deutschlandhalle
Capacity: 8,764

Squads[]

Referees[]

One referee from Denmark and two from Germany were refeering 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
	Theilig 4	(4–3)	3 players each 1
		Report Denmark

5 February 1938 21:50	Sweden	4–5	Austria	Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 8 000
	3	(2–2)	Perwein 2

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6 February 1938 20:15	Denmark	1–2	Sweden	Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000
	1	(1–1)	2
		Report Denmark

6 February 1938 20:45	Germany	5–4	Austria	Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000
	2	(4–2)	4 players each 1

6 February 1938 22:20	Denmark	2–7	Austria	Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000
	2 players each 1	(0–3)	3
		Report Denmark

6 February 1938 22:45	Germany	7–2	Sweden	Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Attendance: 10 000
	Ortmann 2	(3–1)	& each 1

Medallist Squads[]

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Germany	Austria	Sweden
Hans Keiter Günther Ortmann Hans Theilig	Otto Licha Anton Perwein Alfred Schmalzer Alois Schnabel Jaroslav Volak

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

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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

References[]

• International Handball Federation^{[dead link]}
• Games of Sweden
• Games of Germany (Helmut Laaß and Stephan Müller)
• "Wer wird Weltmeister?" [Who becomes World Champion?]. (Wiener) Sporttagblatt (in German). 72 (35/36): 5. 5 February 1938.
• "Die Weltmeisterschaft im Hallen-Handball" [The World Championship in Indoor-Handball]. (Wiener) Sporttagblatt (in German). 72 (37): 4. 7 February 1938.
• "Die erste Weltmeisterschaft im Hallen-Handball" [The first World Championship in Indoor-Handball]. (Wiener) Sporttagblatt (in German). 72 (38): 4. 8 February 1938.
• "Oesterreichs zweiter Platz" [Austrians second place]. (Wiener) Sporttagblatt (in German). 72 (39): 4. 9 February 1938.
• "Weltmeisterschaft im Hallenhandball" [World Championship in Indoor-Handball]. (Wiener) Sporttagblatt (in German). 72 (40): 3–4. 10 February 1938.