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 a team-handball roster: 1 goalkeeper, 6 court players, 9 substitutes, a captain, a defensive system. Seven positions, seven choices, from the goalkeeper to the right wing.
Build from the current USA Team Handball player pool, the LA 2028 host generation of recruits and college/club athletes, the 1984 Los Angeles legacy (the US women's fourth-place team), or bring in reinforcements from Denmark, France, Germany or Spain. You can also build a 100% buddies team for the rec league or college club.
Project the seven for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. As hosts, both the men's and women's teams qualify automatically — the first US Olympic handball appearance since Atlanta 1996. Build the roster you want to see represent the country on home soil.
USA Team Handball runs open athlete-ID combines, converting tall, explosive athletes from basketball, football, volleyball and track. Most have never played handball. If you're in the right physical window, this is one of the most realistic Team USA tickets in any sport.
There's no pro league, but the sport lives in college clubs, the USA Team Handball National Championships, and a deep military tradition (Army / West Point). Build the seven of the scene that has quietly kept American handball alive between Olympics.
Buddy at left back, roommate on the wing, brother as pivot, partner at center back. Upload your own photo cards for the rec-league championship, the college club final, a bachelor party, or just bragging rights in the group chat.
From the founding of the US Team Handball Federation in 1959 through two host-nation Olympics, a fourth-place women's team in 1984, and two decades in the wilderness — American team handball has always been a sport waiting for its moment. LA 2028 is that moment: a guaranteed Olympic stage, a recruitment drive, and a generation of athletes about to discover the sport. On TeamBranch, replay every era — or build the team you want to see take the floor in Los Angeles.
Team handball arrives in the US through colleges, the armed forces and European immigrants. The US Team Handball Federation is founded in 1959. The sport remains tiny — squeezed between basketball, football, baseball and the wall-ball game most Americans already call 'handball'.
Through the 1960s and 70s, the national program leans heavily on military bases and a handful of college clubs. The men make their first Olympic appearance at Montreal 1976, but the US is firmly outside the European-dominated elite.
As hosts of Los Angeles 1984, both US teams play — and the women finish fourth, the best Olympic result in American handball history and still the benchmark. The men compete on home soil too, in front of curious LA crowds discovering the sport for the first time.
The pattern repeats at Atlanta 1996: host-nation berths, a brief spotlight, then the lights go out. Without an automatic ticket or sustained funding, the elite program winds down after the Games leave town.
For more than twenty years, Team USA does not appear at an Olympics. The sport survives on college clubs, the national championships, Army/West Point teams and a small core of devoted players and coaches. Recognition by the USOPC and IHF keeps the structure in place, but funding is thin.
Everything changes with the LA 2028 award. USA Team Handball launches athlete-ID combines, residency ideas and a recruitment push — converting basketball, football, volleyball and track athletes, the same playbook Great Britain used for London 2012. The target: be competitive, on home soil, in front of a new American audience.
A handball team 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.
The back court (pivot, two backs, center back) is the foundation: building play, 9-meter shooting, positional handball in 6-0. The wings are the speed: finishing, fast breaks, movement. The goalkeeper (distinct jersey) can win a game on his or her own.
Every era has its story, even one as thin as American handball's. On TeamBranch, you can reconstruct each team, or swap one name to see what changes. What if the 1984 women had reached the final? What would a fully-recruited LA 2028 squad of converted athletes look like? Answer in 60 seconds.
Team handball is the best Olympic sport most Americans have never seen. We have the athletes — the most explosive in the world. What we've never had is a reason to start young. A home Games is that reason. Build a seven, learn the positions, and you already understand it better than 99% of the country.USA Team Handball — the national governing body, recognized by the USOPC and the International Handball Federation, building toward LA 2028
Build the seven you want to see host the Games: the current USA Team Handball player pool plus the LA 2028 recruits and college/club call-ups. Pick your starting seven, your bench, your captain — and define what a competitive home-soil Team USA should look like.
Honor the host-nation eras: the 1984 Los Angeles women's team that finished fourth, the Atlanta 1996 generation, and the college/military core that kept the sport breathing. The eternal American seven, built from the moments the US actually took the Olympic floor.
The real LA 2028 strategy: take elite basketball, football, volleyball and track athletes and turn them into handball players. Build the dream conversion seven — reach at goalkeeper, sprinters on the wings, power forwards as backs, a tight end at pivot. The combine, made into a roster.
The teams Team USA would face: Niklas Landin (DEN) in goal, Nikola Karabatic (FRA) center back, Mathias Gidsel (DEN) back, Sander Sagosen (NOR), Domagoj Duvnjak (CRO), Aron Pálmarsson (ISL). The global standard a home crowd would watch on the other bench.
Build the women's team around the 1984 Los Angeles fourth-place legacy — the best Olympic finish in US handball history — plus the modern player pool and college standouts. As LA 2028 hosts, the US women carry the sport's brightest American story straight back to where it peaked.
Pick another flag and see the gap. Build France with Mem-Karabatic, Denmark with Landin-Hansen-Gidsel, Germany with Knorr-Wolff-Heymann, or Sweden with Gottfridsson-Palicka. The benchmark Team USA is chasing on home soil.
American handball clusters around a few hubs: New York / New Jersey, California, Chicago, the military academies, and a scatter of college clubs nationwide. Build a team from your region and rep the corner of the country that actually shows up to play.
If athleticism alone made a handball team: LeBron James at left back (the shot), Patrick Mahomes at center back (the pass), Travis Kelce at pivot (the seal), a track sprinter on the wing, a volleyball blocker in goal. The only place you can put the entire American sports pantheon on a 40x20 court.
Upload your own photo cards. Put your little brother at center back, your buddy at pivot, your cousin on the wing, your dad in goal. Rec-league team, college club, bachelor party, or just the group chat. Custom and unlimited.
The 2028 Summer Olympics run in Los Angeles from July 14 to 30, 2028. As the host nation, the United States qualifies automatically in both the men's and women's team-handball tournaments — the first US Olympic handball since hosting Atlanta 1996. It is the single biggest stage American team handball has ever been handed.
On TeamBranch, build your LA 2028 seven on any hypothesis: the current player pool, a full recruiting-combine roster, or an all-time host-nation tribute. Pre-filled templates, editable in two clicks.
International 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 — including the one the United States will host in 2028.
The US has no professional team-handball league. Instead the sport runs on three tracks: the USA Team Handball National Championships (open club competition), a network of college clubs (NCAA does not sanction the sport), and a deep military tradition centered on the academies. These are the hubs that have kept American team handball alive between host-nation Olympics — and the feeders for the LA 2028 push.
Every team built on TeamBranch generates a unique link + an Open Graph card with photos, positions and red-white-blue stripes. Share it on WhatsApp, X, Instagram — challenge your buddies, start the group-chat debate, recruit your rec league.
Selection of the most asked questions on Google and in our user messages.
