Beach Handball is a variant of Handball that is played on sand where two teams of 4 players throw pass, bounce and roll a handball inside the court boundary with the aim of scoring a goal by successfully throwing the ball into their opponent’s goal.
There are 4 players from each team on the field of play at any given time during the match plus the goalkeeper, and unlimited substitutions are allowed. A match consists of two 10 minute halves known as sets. Whichever team has scored the most points at the end of a set, takes the set. If points are even at the end of a set, then the referee starts one more play as a golden goal, where the next score takes the set. If 1 set all at the end of the match then the final set is played as a shoot out.
A player can only take three steps with the ball in her hand and cannot hold it more than three seconds without passing, throwing or bouncing. It is also not allowed to pass the ball to the goalkeeper inside the goal area.
For the full rules of Beach Handball please download the latest rules document from the IHF website