| | Event type

Handball, Men

Date	30 August – 10 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Donauhalle, Ulm / Hohenstaufenhalle, Göppingen / Sporthalle Augsburg, Augsburg / Sporthalle Böblingen, Böblingen / Sporthalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants	243 from 16 countries
Format	Round-robin pools advance teams to single-elimination classification matches.

With the first eight nations of the 1970 World Championships automatically qualified (and ninth place USSR added because West German was already qualified as a host), the Olympic tournament was ensured of a competitive field. Of these nine nations, only Denmark failed to reach the second round. Both semi-final pools were a close affair. In Group A, East Germany (runner-up at the 1970 Worlds) had beaten Czechoslovakia in the first round, but lost to the Soviet Union 11-8 and missed out on the final on goal difference. In the other pool, reigning world champion Romania was surprised by Yugoslavia, which moved away from the Romanians in the second half to beat them 14-13 in a low-scoring affair.

This gave Romania vs. East Germany, the World Championship final of 1970, as the bronze medal match in München. Two years earlier, the Romanians required two overtimes to get rid of the Germans, but this time they obtained an early lead, giving them a 19-16 win in the end. The final was slightly disappointing. The Yugoslavs started with a 4-0 lead after six minutes, and protected a seven-point advantage in the first half. This sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, which never recovered and lost 21-16.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC
1	Yugoslavia	YUG	Gold
	Zoran Živković • Abas Arslanagić • Miroslav Pribanić • Petar Fajfrić • Milorad Karalić • Đorđe Lavrnić • Slobodan Mišković • Hrvoje Horvat • Branislav Pokrajac • Zdravko Miljak • Milan Lazarević • Nebojša Popović • Zdenko Zorko • Albin Vidović
2	Czechoslovakia	TCH	Silver
	František Králík • Peter Pospíšil • Ivan Satrapa • Vladimír Jarý • Jiří Kavan • Andrej Lukošík • Vladimír Haber • Jindřich Krepindl • Ladislav Beneš • Vincent Lafko • Jaroslav Konečný • Pavel Mikeš • František Brůna • Zdeněk Škára • Jaroslav Škarvan • Arnošt Klimčík
3	Romania	ROU	Bronze
	Cornel Penu • Alexandru Dincă • Gabriel Kicsid • Ghiță Licu • Cristian Gațu • Roland Guneš • Radu Voina • Simion Schobel • Gheorghe Gruia • Werner Stöckl • Dan Marin • Adrian Cosma • Valentin Samungi • Constantin Tudosie • Ștefan Birtalan
4	East Germany	GDR
	Harry Zörnack • Horst Jankhöfer • Josef Rose • Jürgen Hildebrand • Klaus Langhoff • Klaus Weiß • Peter Larisch • Peter Randt • Rainer Würdig • Rainer Zimmermann • Reiner Frieske • Reiner Ganschow • Siegfried Voigt • Udo Röhrig • Wolfgang Böhme • Wolfgang Lakenmacher
5	Soviet Union	URS
	Albert Oganezov • Aleksandr Panov • Oleksandr Riezanov • Anatoly Shevchenko • Ivan Usaty • Jānis Vilsons • Mykhailo Ishchenko • Mikhail Lutsenko • Nikolay Semyonov • Valentin Kulyov • Valery Gassy • Vasily Ilyin • Vladimir Maksimov • Yury Klimov • Yuriy Lahutin
6	West Germany	FRG
	Diethard Finkelmann • Peter Neuhaus • Hans-Jürgen Bode • Heiner Möller • Herbert Lübking • Herbert Rogge • Herbert Wehnert • Herwig Ahrendsen • Jochen Feldhoff • Josef Karrer • Klaus Kater • Klaus Lange • Klaus Westebbe • Peter Bucher • Uwe Rathjen • Wolfgang Braun
7	Sweden	SWE
	Bengt Johansson • Benny Johansson • Bertil Söderberg • Björn Andersson • Bo Andersson • Dan Eriksson • Frank Ström • Göran Hård af Segerstad • Jan Jonsson • Johan Fischerström • Lars Karlsson • Lennart Eriksson • Michael Koch • Olle Olsson • Sten Olsson • Thomas Persson
8	Hungary	HUN
	Béla Bartalos • István Marosi • István Szabó • István Varga • János Adorján • János Csík • János Stiller • József Horváth • Károly Vass • Lajos Simó • László Harka • László Szabó • Sándor Kaló • Sándor Takács • Sándor Vass
9	Norway	NOR
	Carl Graff-Wang • Finn Urdal • Geir Røse • Harald Tyrdal • Arnulf Bæk • Inge Hansen • Jan Økseter • Jon Reinertsen • Pål Bye • Pål Cappelen • Per Søderstrøm • Per Axel Ankre • Roger Hverven • Sten Osther • Torstein Hansen • Ulf Magnussen
10	Poland	POL
	Andrzej Lech • Andrzej Sokołowski • Andrzej Szymczak • Bogdan Kowalczyk • Engelbert Szolc • Franciszek Gąsior • Helmut Pniociński • Henryk Rozmiarek • Jan Gmyrek • Jerzy Melcer • Robert Zawada • Włodzimierz Wachowicz • Zbigniew Dybol • Zdzisław Antczak • Zygfryd Kuchta
11	Japan	JPN
	Hiroshi Honda • Katsuhiko Chikamori • Kenichi Sasaki • Kiyoshi Noda • Kiyotaka Hayakawa • Masayuki Hyokai • Minoru Kino • Shuji Arinaga • Takezo Nakai • Toshihiko Shimosato • Toshio Niimi • Nobuyuki Iida
12	Iceland	ISL
	Ágúst Ögmundsson • Axel Axelsson • Birgir Finnbogason • Björgvin Björgvinsson • Geir Hallsteinsson • Gunnsteinn Skúlason • Hjalti Einarsson • Jón Magnússon • Ólafur Benediktsson • Ólafur Jónsson • Sigurbergur Sigsteinsson • Sigurður Einarsson • Stefán Gunnarsson • Stefán Jónsson • Viðar Símonarson
13	Denmark	DEN
	Arne Andersen • Bent Jørgensen • Claus From • Flemming Hansen • Flemming Lauritzen • Jørgen Frandsen • Jørgen Heidemann • Jørgen Vodsgaard • Karsten Sørensen • Kay Jørgensen • Keld Andersen • Søren Jensen • Svend Lund • Thor Munkager • Tom Lund • Vagn Nielsen
14	United States	USA
	Richard Abrahamson • Fletcher Abram, Jr. • Roger Baker • Dennis Berkholtz • Larry Caton • Vincent DiCalogero • Ellie Edes • Tom Hardiman • Matt Matthews • Sandor Rivnyak • Jim Rogers • Richard Schlesinger, Jr. • Kevin Serrapede • Bob Sparks • Joel Voelkert
15	Spain	ESP
	Antonio Andreu • Fernando de Andrés • Francisco López • Javier García • Jesús Guerrero • José Perramón • José Rochel • José Manuel Tauré • Faustino Villamarín • Juan Miguel Igartua • Joan Morera • Juan Antonio Medina • Miguel Ángel Cascallana • Santos Labaca • Vicente Ortega
16	Tunisia	TUN
	Abdel Aziz Zaibi • Ahmed Bechir Bel Hadj • Aleya Hamrouni • Amor Sghaier • Faouzi Ksouri • Mohamed Naceur Jelili • Mohamed Khalladi • Mohamed Klai • Mohamed Sebabti • Moncef Besbes • Moncef Loueslati • Mounir Jelili • Rached Boudhina • Ridha Zitoun • Abderraouf Ben Samir • Taoufik Djemaiel

Round One (30 August – 3 September 1972)

Group A (30 August – 3 September 1972)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals For	GA
1	Sweden	SWE	1	2	0	4	40	34

2	Soviet Union	URS	1	2	0	4	40	34

3	Poland	POL	1	1	1	3	35	38

4	Denmark	DEN	0	1	2	1	30	39

Match #1	DEN	12 – 12	URS
Match #2	SWE	13 – 13	POL
Match #3	POL	11 – 8	DEN
Match #4	URS	11 – 11	SWE
Match #5	SWE	16 – 10	DEN
Match #6	URS	17 – 11	POL

Group B (30 August – 3 September 1972)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals For	GA
1	East Germany	GDR	3	0	0	6	51	32

2	Czechoslovakia	TCH	1	1	1	3	56	40

3	Iceland	ISL	1	1	1	3	57	51

4	Tunisia	TUN	0	0	3	0	32	73

Match #1	GDR	16 – 11	ISL
Match #2	TCH	25 – 7 1 Bench Warning	TUN
Match #3	GDR	21 – 9	TUN
Match #4	TCH	19 – 19	ISL
Match #5	GDR	14 – 12	TCH
Match #6	ISL	27 – 16	TUN

Group C (30 August – 3 September 1972)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals For	GA
1	Romania	ROU	3	0	0	6	46	37

2	West Germany	FRG	1	1	1	3	39	38

3	Norway	NOR	1	1	1	3	48	50

4	Spain	ESP	0	0	3	0	39	47

Match #1	ROU	18 – 14	NOR
Match #2	FRG	13 – 10	ESP
Match #3	ROU	15 – 12	ESP
Match #4	FRG	15 – 15	NOR
Match #5	ROU	13 – 11	FRG
Match #6	NOR	19 – 17	ESP

Group D (30 August – 3 September 1972)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals For	GA
1	Yugoslavia	YUG	3	0	0	6	63	45

2	Hungary	HUN	2	0	1	4	64	45

3	Japan	JPN	1	0	2	2	46	56

4	United States	USA	0	0	3	0	46	73

Match #1	YUG	20 – 14	JPN
Match #2	HUN	28 – 15	USA
Match #3	YUG	25 – 15	USA
Match #4	HUN	20 – 12	JPN
Match #5	YUG	18 – 16	HUN
Match #6	JPN	20 – 16 1 Team Warning	USA

Round Two (5 – 8 September 1972)

Group A (5 – 8 September 1972)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals For	GA
1	Czechoslovakia	TCH	2	0	0	4	30	24

2	East Germany	GDR	1	0	1	2	22	22

3	Soviet Union	URS	1	0	1	2	23	23

4	Sweden	SWE	0	0	2	0	23	29

Match #1	TCH	15 – 12	SWE
Match #2	URS	11 – 8	GDR
Match #3	GDR	14 – 11	SWE
Match #4	TCH	15 – 12	URS

Group B (6 – 8 September 1972)

Round-robin pools.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals For	GA
1	Yugoslavia	YUG	2	0	0	4	38	28

2	Romania	ROU	1	0	1	2	33	28

3	West Germany	FRG	1	0	1	2	32	38

4	Hungary	HUN	0	0	2	0	28	37

Match #1	ROU	20 – 14	HUN
Match #2	YUG	24 – 15	FRG
Match #3	YUG	14 – 13	ROU
Match #4	FRG	17 – 14	HUN

Classification Round 13-16 (7 September 1972)

Match #1	DEN	29 – 21	TUN
Match #2	USA	22 – 20	ESP

Classification Round 9-12 (7 September 1972)

Classification matches.

Match #1	POL	20 – 17	ISL
Match #2	NOR	19 – 17	JPN

Final Round (9 – 10 September 1972)

Medal round.

Match 1/2	YUG	21 – 16	TCH
Match 3/4	ROU	19 – 16	GDR
Match 5/6	URS	17 – 16	FRG
Match 7/8	SWE	19 – 18	HUN
Match 9/10	NOR	23 – 20	POL
Match 11/12	JPN	19 – 18	ISL
Match 13/14	DEN	19 – 18	USA
Match 15/16	ESP	23 – 20	TUN