Put your 7 players on the court, set up your defence and attack, draw your plays and fast breaks, export a clean image or an animated GIF and share your team in one tap. National heroes, world legends, your club mates — from the wing to the goalkeeper.
Pick your system, place your 7 players on a real court (6 m zone, 9 m line, goals) and add their photo. You leave with a clean image ready to share.
The handball tactics board. Place players and opponents, draw passes, runs, shots and zones, then animate your fast break or defensive system step by step.
TeamBranch replicates the official structure of an Olympic team handball squad: 1 goalkeeper, 6 court players, 9 substitutes, a captain, a defensive system. Seven positions, seven choices, from goalkeeper to right wing. This is the IHF seven-a-side indoor sport — not the four-wall Gaelic alley game, despite the shared name.
Pick from the current Olympic Handball Ireland senior squad drawn from the university league, the Trinity, UCD, UCC, DCU, NUI Galway, Maynooth, UL and Athlone club rosters, the Irish exiles playing in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark, or bring in reinforcements from Germany, Denmark, France or Norway. You can also build a 100% mates team for the club tournament at the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown.
Build your dream squad for 13 January 2027 in Berlin. Ireland are not in the senior European qualification path — Olympic Handball Ireland compete at the IHF Emerging Nations Championship — but the long-shot dream squad is part of the fun. Build the Ireland team from the current pool plus the Irish exiles playing in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark.
Build Ireland's seven for the EHF Euro 2026 qualifiers in Spain/Switzerland/Hungary. Or build a 'what if' Ireland squad that converts top GAA athletes — what would a seven with a Croke Park-class midfielder at centre back, a hurling forward at pivot, and a Gaelic football half-forward on the wing look like? Build it and find out.
Mix the champions of the Trinity College Dublin handball club, the tradition of UCD and UCC, the depth of DCU, NUI Galway, Maynooth, University of Limerick and Athlone IT. The best of the Irish university handball ecosystem — the actual base of the sport in Ireland, where most Olympic Handball Ireland senior caps started playing.
Uncle at left back, mate on the wing, brother as pivot, partner at centre back. Upload your own photo cards for the club tournament at DCU Sport, the local league final, a stag in Killarney or Galway, or just the third half after training at your university sports centre. Custom and unlimited.
From the foundation of the Olympic Handball Association of Ireland in 1969 by GAA athletes and exchange students returning from continental Europe, to the modern Olympic Handball Ireland federation, fully restructured in the 2010s, the story of IHF team handball in Ireland is a story of patient growth in the shadow of giants — GAA Handball, hurling, Gaelic football, rugby. 50+ university and city clubs, IHF Emerging Nations Championship appearances, EHF affiliate membership, a small but growing pool of Irish-eligible exiles in European leagues. On TeamBranch, you can replay every era — or, more honestly, every 'what if' — and build the Ireland team that never quite happened.
The Olympic Handball Association of Ireland is founded in 1969 by Irish students returning from Erasmus-era exchanges in Germany and France, plus a handful of GAA athletes curious about the indoor variant. Early clubs are tied to universities: UCD, Trinity College Dublin, UCC. Membership in the IHF follows in the 1970s, but international competition is sporadic and Ireland never qualifies for a senior IHF or EHF tournament.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the federation is essentially run on volunteer effort. The combined cultural pull of GAA Handball (4-wall and 1-wall alley games) and the GAA's dominant sports-hall footprint makes growth slow. Clubs come and go; the senior international programme is dormant for long stretches.
From around 2010, the federation rebuilds. Olympic Handball Ireland becomes the modern governance body, securing EHF affiliate member status and joining the IHF Emerging Nations Championship programme. The university league expands beyond Dublin: DCU, NUI Galway, Maynooth University, University of Limerick, Athlone IT, Waterford IT, UCC and UCD all develop active handball clubs in the BUSCA and intervarsities ecosystems.
City clubs grow alongside: Astra Handball Dublin, Cork City Handball Club, Galway Handball, Wexford Handball. Senior internationals appear at IHF Emerging Nations Championship tournaments, with squads largely drawn from the university leagues. The first Ireland-eligible players sign professional contracts in continental Europe — typically in lower-tier German, Dutch and Spanish leagues.
The current senior programme operates as a hybrid of university league talent, city club players and Ireland-eligible exiles. The senior men's and women's squads compete in IHF Emerging Nations Championship cycles, occasional EHF Wild Card events, and friendly tournaments against fellow developing nations (Britain, Cyprus, Malta, Faroe Islands).
The 2027 IHF World Championship in Germany is a long-shot symbolic target — Ireland is unlikely to qualify directly, but the buildup, the squad announcements, and the conversation around 'what if we converted top GAA athletes' all generate real interest. The base keeps growing: more universities, more clubs in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Belfast, and a longer waiting list of Irish-eligible players entering academies in Hamburg, Aalborg, Granollers and beyond.
A team handball squad has 7 players on court (one goalkeeper, six court players) and 9 substitutes on the team sheet. Each position has a precise role: this is the grammar TeamBranch replicates. Completely different from GAA Handball's 1v1 or 2v2 alley game.
The back court (pivot, two backs, centre back) is the foundation: building play, 9-metre shooting, positional handball in 6-0. The wings are the speed: finishing, fast breaks, movement play. The goalkeeper (green shirt) wins finals on his own.
Every generation has its icons, systems, nicknames. On TeamBranch, you can reconstruct each team identically, or swap one name to see what would have happened. What if a top hurler had converted to pivot in 2010? What if Ireland had a full-time professional centre back in 2015? Answer in 60 seconds.
We won't be at Berlin 2027. Not directly. But every university match in DCU, every Astra Dublin training session in Abbotstown, every Cork City Handball weekend — that's how Olympic team handball gets built in Ireland. Slowly, patiently, in the shadow of Croke Park. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam — and a small handball nation still has a soul.Olympic Handball Ireland senior squad captain, drawing from the university league, IHF Emerging Nations Championship squad member
Build the squad for the next IHF Emerging Nations Championship cycle and the 2026 EHF qualifiers. Mix the university league core (Trinity, UCD, UCC veterans), the city club regulars (Astra Dublin, Cork City Handball, Galway Handball) and the Ireland-eligible exiles playing in Germany, Netherlands and Spain. Your starting seven, your bench, your captain.
From the OHAI 1969 founding generation to the modern Olympic Handball Ireland exiles in continental leagues. The eternal Ireland seven, built from Trinity/UCD/UCC veterans, the Astra Dublin city club generation, and the Irish exiles playing professionally in Hamburg, Aalborg, Granollers.
Mix the champions of Trinity College Dublin, the tradition of UCD, UCC, the depth of DCU, NUI Galway, Maynooth University, University of Limerick, Athlone IT. The best of the Irish university handball ecosystem in one team — the actual base of Olympic team handball in Ireland.
Beyond Ireland: Niklas Landin (DEN) in goal, Nikola Karabatic (FRA) centre back, Mathias Gidsel (DEN) back, Sander Sagosen (NOR), Domagoj Duvnjak (CRO), Aron Pálmarsson (ISL). A world seven any Olympic Handball Ireland coach would dream of.
The 'what if' the whole Irish handball community whispers about. What would a seven look like with a top hurler at pivot, a Gaelic football half-forward on the wing, a Croke Park midfielder at centre back, a Gaelic handball alley specialist as goalkeeper (those reflexes!), and a camogie county star at right back? Build the fantasy crossover seven and share the debate.
What if you picked another flag? Build Great Britain with Williams-Williamson-Hawkins, France with Mem-Karabatic, Germany with Knorr-Wolff-Heymann, or Denmark with Landin-Hansen-Gidsel. The historic rivals and neighbours of Olympic Handball Ireland.
Irish Olympic team handball is mostly Dublin, Cork, Galway and the major university towns. Build squads from Dublin (Trinity, UCD, DCU, Maynooth, Astra), Cork (UCC, Cork City Handball), Galway (NUI Galway, Galway Handball), Limerick (UL, Limerick Handball), Athlone & the Midlands (Athlone IT, Mullingar), Belfast & the North (Queen's University Belfast, Ulster University).
Conor McGregor as pivot (power and crowd presence), Saoirse Ronan on the wing (Oscar-class focus), Liam Neeson at centre back (very particular set of skills), Roy Keane as captain (intensity), Sonia O'Sullivan as goalkeeper (track legend reflexes), Bono on the bench (cheerleader-in-chief). The only team where you can put Bertie Ahern in as a tactical sub.
Upload your own photo cards. Put your younger brother at centre back, your mate as pivot, your cousin on the wing, your da as goalkeeper. University league side, club tournament at DCU Sport, a stag in Killarney, or just the third half at the local pub after training. Custom and unlimited.
The 2027 IHF Men's Handball World Championship is hosted in Germany from 13 to 31 January 2027. Main venues: Berlin (Mercedes-Benz Arena), Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Düsseldorf. Olympic Handball Ireland are not in the direct senior European qualification path — Ireland competes at the IHF Emerging Nations Championship — but the 2027 Worlds remains the symbolic target for the long-term restructuring, the GAA-crossover conversation, and the academy pipeline of Irish-eligible players entering continental European leagues.
On TeamBranch, you can build your 2027 Worlds Ireland seven on several hypotheses: current senior squad, university all-stars, GAA-conversion experiment, full revolution. Six pre-filled templates, editable in two clicks.
International team handball revolves around a tight circle, dominated by Europe. World top: Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, plus Iceland and Brazil as outsiders. On TeamBranch, you can build the seven of every nation.
Irish Olympic team handball is built on the BUSCA university league and a growing network of city clubs. The actual handball ecosystem here is universities first, then a handful of city clubs in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast. On TeamBranch, you can build the type-seven of every university and club. (Note: this list is for IHF team handball — for the alley-based Gaelic handball, see GAA Handball.)
Every team built on TeamBranch generates a unique link + an Open Graph card with photos, positions and green-white-orange stripes. Share on WhatsApp, X, Instagram, challenge your mates, kick off the club debate.
Selection of the most asked questions on Google and in our user messages.
