Competition Format
Competition System
Both men and women will compete under the same competition system.
Teams will be placed in two (2) pools of six (6) teams for the preliminary rounds. The two pools will be drawn by IHF in compliance with the performance principle. Each team will compete against the other teams in its pool.
The top four (4) teams in each pool will proceed to the quarterfinals.
The four (4) winners in the quarterfinals will proceed to the semifinals.
The two (2) winners in the semifinals will compete for the gold and silver medals.
The losers in the semifinals will compete for the bronze medal.
The losers in the quarterfinals will play classification matches for places 5-8.
Teams ranked 5th and 6th in the preliminary round will end their play.
Determination of places 9-12 is done by calculation based on their
results in the preliminary round.
Match Scheme
For Men and Women
| 1st match day | 2nd match day | 3rd match day | 4th match day | 5th match day |
| A3:A5 | A6:A3 | B1:B6 | A6:A4 | B5:B6 |
| B3:B5 | B6:B3 | A1:A6 | B6:B4 | A5:A6 |
| A2:A6 | A4:A2 | B4:B5 | A2:A5 | B3:B4 |
| B2:B6 | B4:B2 | A4:A5 | B2:B5 | A3:A4 |
| A1:A4 | A5:A1 | B2:B3 | A3:A1 | B1:B2 |
| B1:B4 | B5:B1 | A2:A3 | B3:B1 | A1:A2 |
| 6th match day | 7th match day | 8th match day |
| 1.A: 4.B (Quarterfinal 1/Q.F.1) | Loser Q.F.1: Loser Q.F.3 (L1) | Loser L1: Loser L2 (Pl. 7/8) |
| 3.B: 2.A (Quarterfinal 2/Q.F.2) | Loser Q.F.2: Loser Q.F.4 (L2) | Winner L1: Winner L2 (Pl. 5/6) |
| 3.A: 2.B (Quarterfinal 3/Q.F.3) | Winner Q.F.1: Winner Q.F.3 (W1) | Loser W1: Loser W2 (Pl. 3/4) |
| 1.B: 4.A (Quarterfinal 4/Q.F.4) | Winner Q.F.2: Winner Q.F.4 (W2) | Winner W1: Winner W2 (Pl. 1/2) |
Match Duration
Each handball match consists of 2 halves of 30 minutes. The half-time break is 10-minutes.
Draw
The draw will be conducted under the supervision of the International Handball Federation in Beijing on June 16, 2008.
