Handball score counter · Free · No sign-up
Handball Score Counter
A handball score counter keeps each team’s goals on a match clock that counts up to 60:00. This one times 2-minute suspensions that a goal never ends, turns a player’s third into a disqualification, stops a team at three warnings, and counts time-outs one per half or three per match.
Free, no sign-up, works offline, and nothing leaves this browser.
Team A 0–0 Team B, Before throw-off
Tap Throw-off when the referee starts the 1st half. If it is level at the end: a draw.
If it ended now: Team A 1, Team B 1.
Halves of 30 min; three time-outs per match; clock stops for suspensions and time-outs
| Team | Goals | Warnings | 2 minutes | Disqualified | Time-outs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Time | Team | What |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing yet: goals, punishments and time-outs appear here with the match time. | ||
Tap Throw-off at the referee’s whistle. The clock counts up through the match, as most handball clocks do.A 2 minutes, a Disqualify and a Time-out stop it by themselves, because the rules make a time-out obligatory for each; tap Restart clock at the whistle, and Stop clock for anything else the referees stop it for. A goal does not stop it. Type a shirt number first to attach it, or a letter A to E for a team official. Ctrl+Z undoes.
This keeps the score, the clock, the punishments, the time-outs and the players on the court; it does not referee. Its clock is the one you run, not the timekeeper’s, and a suspension counts only while it runs. It does not judge passive play, does not know which team has the ball (a team time-out may only be asked for in possession), does not track substitutions, the blue card’s written report, or the four-minute cases of Rule 16:9b and 16:9d. Built for indoor handball under the IHF Rules of the Game; beach handball and wheelchair handball have rules of their own. It is not an official score sheet.
The goals are the easy part. A handball scoreboard also has to know that a goal does not bring a suspended team back to seven, that the third suspension for one player is a red card, that a team gets three warnings and no more, and whether this competition gives one time-out per half or three per match. This counter does.
Handball is a team sport of seven players a side, one a goalkeeper, played indoors under the IHF Rules of the Game in two halves of 30 minutes. A 2-minute suspension is its main punishment: the player sits out two minutes of playing time and the team plays one short, whatever is scored meanwhile.
- No sign-up
- No ads
- Counts never leave your browser
- Works offline
- Unlimited counters
Key facts
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Price | Free, no sign-up, no ads |
| Match clock | Counts up through the match: 30:00 at half-time, 60:00 at the end |
| Match length | Halves of 30 minutes, or 25, 20, 15 or 10 for youth and short formats |
| Goals | Each with its match time and an optional shirt number |
| 2-minute suspensions | Timed in playing time, several at once, carried over half-time; never ended by a goal |
| Third suspension | A disqualification, when the same shirt number is suspended three times |
| Warnings | Three per team, one per player, one for all the officials |
| Team time-outs | One per half (Rule 2:10), or three per match with two a half and one in the last 5 minutes |
| Level at the end | A draw, overtime of 2 × 5 minutes (twice), or 7-metre throws |
| League points | 2 for a win, 1 for a draw |
| Where data goes | Nowhere. Local storage in this browser only |
| Official record | No. It records what you tap and does not referee |
How to keep score in handball with the counter
Set the match up once, then tap what the referees give.
Set the match up
Half length, one time-out per half or three per match, what happens if it is level, and the team names.
Tap Throw-off
When the referee starts each half. The clock counts up in match time and stamps every goal and punishment.
Tap every goal
Under the team that scored, with the shirt number first if you want the scorers in the log.
Tap the punishments
Warning, 2 minutes or Disqualify under the team, with the shirt number, or A to E for an official. A suspension or disqualification stops the clock.
Restart the clock
Tap Restart clock at the whistle. The suspension timer runs with it, and the panel shows the players on court and when the next one comes back.
End each half
Tap End when the timekeeper signals. At the end the counter gives the result, overtime or 7-metre throws, and the league points.
Where a handball score counter gets used
Any sports hall with no electronic board, and any bench that needs the suspensions right.
Club and school matches
The score, the scorers and the suspension timers, kept on a phone at the side of the court.
Coaches
How many warnings the team has left, which player is on two suspensions, and whether a time-out is still available.
Youth handball
Halves of 25 or 20 minutes, with the punishments young players pick up most.
Timekeepers and scorekeepers
A second record of suspensions and time-outs to check the official clock and score sheet against.
Watching on TV or streams
When a suspended team is back to seven, and which players are one suspension from a red card.
PE lessons
Why handball counts warnings, and why a goal does not end a two-minute suspension.
Handball suspensions: why a goal does not end them, and when the third is a red card
Handball punishes in steps, and the steps are what a scorekeeper actually has to count. A warning (the yellow card) costs nothing on the court. A 2-minute suspension leaves the team a player short for two minutes of playing time, and the team may not replace the player. A disqualification (the red card) is for the rest of the match and leaves the team short for two minutes, after which another player may come on (Rules 16:1 to 16:8).
| Punishment | Limit | Effect on the court | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warning (yellow card) | One per player, three per team; none for a player who has already been suspended | None | 16:1 Comment |
| Warning, team officials | One in total for all of a team’s officials | None | 16:1 Comment |
| 2-minute suspension | The third for the same player is a disqualification | One player short for 2 minutes of playing time; no replacement | 16:3, 16:5 |
| 2-minute suspension, team official | One in total for the officials | One player short for 2 minutes, though the official stays on the bench | 16:3e Comment |
| Disqualification (red card) | For the rest of the match | One player short for 2 minutes, then another player may come on | 16:6, 16:8 |
Once a team has had its three warnings, any foul that would have earned a warning is at least a suspension, and the counter refuses a fourth, a second for the same shirt number, or a warning for a player who has already sat out two minutes. Type a number before the key and it keeps count per player; type a letter A to E and it counts the officials, as the score sheet does.
A goal does not end a suspension
“A suspension is always for a playing time of 2 minutes” (Rule 16:5). That is the difference from the two other sports where a team plays short for two minutes, and it is the one a scoreboard borrowed from ice hockey gets wrong.
| Sport | Punishment | Ended early by a goal? |
|---|---|---|
| Handball | 2-minute suspension | No. It runs its full two minutes of playing time |
| Ice hockey | Minor penalty | Yes, when the team on the power play scores |
| Futsal | Sending-off, two minutes a player short | Yes, when the team with more players scores (FIFA Futsal Law 3.8) |
The suspension starts “when the game is restarted with a whistle signal”, not when the referee shows it, and it carries over: one with 40 seconds left at half-time is served for the first 40 seconds of the second half, and the same applies into overtime. One still running at the end of overtime keeps the player out of any 7-metre throwing (Rule 16:5). The counter measures every suspension in the playing time of its own clock, so all of this happens by itself.
| Match time | Event | Team A on court |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | 2 minutes, #7 | 6 (back at 14:00) |
| 13:00 | 2 minutes, #23 | 5 (back at 14:00 and 15:00) |
| 13:30 | Team B score, seven against five | 5: no change |
| 14:00 | #7’s suspension ends | 6 |
| 15:00 | #23’s suspension ends | 7 |
The third suspension, and the four-minute cases
“The third suspension for the same player also always leads to a disqualification” (Rule 16:5, 16:6d). The team is short for two minutes, as for any disqualification, and then another player may come on; the disqualified player may not. Enter the shirt number with each suspension and the counter turns the third into a disqualification itself.
When a player gets a second suspension depends on when. A player who has just been suspended and commits unsportsmanlike conduct before the game restarts serves the second after the first, so the team plays one short for four minutes (Rule 16:9a; 16:9c for a disqualification). A player who is already serving and comes back on early gets an additional suspension that “shall begin immediately”, so the team is two short until the first one ends (Rule 4:6). Tap 2 minutes again for the same number and the counter applies whichever of the two fits: before any playing time has passed it queues the second, after it overlaps them. If it is the player’s third, it is a disqualification.
Team time-outs: one per half, or three per match?
Ask how many time-outs a handball team gets and the answers disagree: one per half, or three per match. Both are in the rules. Rule 2:10 says “each team has the right to receive one 1-minute team time-out in each half of the regular playing time, but not in overtime.” Its Note lets the IHF, the continental confederations and national federations allow three per match instead, with no more than two in either half, and Clarification No. 3 adds that “within the last five minutes of the regular playing time only one team time-out per team is allowed.” The EHF moved all its club and national-team competitions to three in 2012. Which one a match uses is the competition’s choice, so the counter has a setting for each.
| Rule 2:10 | The Note (three per match) | |
|---|---|---|
| In the match | 2 | 3 |
| In one half | 1 | 2 at most |
| Last 5 minutes of the 2nd half | 1 (the half’s only one) | 1 at most |
| Unused in the 1st half | Lost | Two may still be taken in the 2nd |
| In overtime | None | None |
| Between two of the same team’s | — | The opponents must have had the ball |
Under the Note each team has green cards numbered 1, 2 and 3. It gets cards 1 and 2 for the first half and cards 2 and 3 for the second, or only card 3 if it used two before half-time. That is why a team that used none in the first half still has only two for the second.
| Used in the 1st half | Green cards for the 2nd half | Time-outs left |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 and 3 | 2 |
| 1 | 2 and 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 1 |
A team time-out can be asked for only while the team has the ball, by putting the green card on the table or pressing an electronic buzzer. The clock stops at once, the time-out lasts a minute, with a signal after 50 seconds, and if the ball was in play the team restarts with a free throw from where it was. The counter stops the clock, counts the time-out against the right half, refuses one the rules do not allow, and greys the key out when none is left. Whether the team had the ball is for you to judge.
The handball clock, overtime and 7-metre throwing
A handball clock usually counts up, and it does not start again at half-time: the second half of an adult match runs from 30:00 to 60:00, and the rules place the last 30 seconds of a match “when the clock indicates 59 minutes 30 seconds (or 69:30, 79:30) or 0 minutes 30 seconds”: the ends of the match and of the two overtimes on a clock that counts up, or 0:30 on one that counts down. The counter shows match time counting up and stamps every goal and punishment with it, the way a score sheet does.
| Part of the match | Length | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Each half, age 16 and over | 30 minutes | 2:1 |
| Each half, youth 12 to 16 | 25 minutes | 2:1 |
| Each half, youth 8 to 12 | 20 minutes | 2:1 |
| Half-time | Normally 10 minutes, at most 15 | 2:1 |
| Overtime, if a winner is needed | After a 5-minute break, two halves of 5 minutes with 1 minute between | 2:2 |
| Second overtime, if still level | The same again | 2:2 |
| Then, if the competition says so | 7-metre throwing | 2:2 Comment |
| Team time-out | 1 minute | 2:10, Clarification 3 |
When the clock stops
The referees decide when to stop the clock, but a time-out is obligatory for a 2-minute suspension or disqualification, a team time-out, a whistle from the timekeeper or delegate, and a consultation between the referees (Rule 2:8). A goal does not stop it: the game restarts with a throw-off and the clock keeps running. The counter stops itself for suspensions, disqualifications and team time-outs; Stop clock covers an injury or anything else. Leagues that keep time with a running clock can switch that off.
No shot clock
Handball has no shot clock. Holding the ball without trying to score is passive play, judged by the referees: once they raise an arm for the forewarning signal, the attacking team has at most four passes to take a shot, and a fifth pass received gives the ball to the other side (Rules 7:11 and 7:12). ScoreCounter.com’s handball board, checked on 2026-10-08, carries a 24-second shot clock all the same, and logs suspensions as fouls with no timer.
7-metre throwing
When a winner is needed after overtime, each team names five players, who throw alternately; goalkeepers may be changed freely. If it is still level after five each, each team names five again, the team that threw first now throws second, and the first difference after an equal number of throws decides it. A player still serving a suspension at the end of overtime may not take part (Rule 2:2 Comment). Tap the team that won it, or count the throws one by one in the penalty shootout counter.
What changed on 1 July 2025
The IHF’s amended Rules of the Game took effect on 1 July 2025. The change a scorekeeper sees is in Rules 8:8d and 8:8e, which previously stipulated a red card: a 7-metre throw that hits the goalkeeper’s head, and a free throw after the final signal that hits a defender’s head, are now punished with a 2-minute suspension, as is an unhindered shot in open play that hits the goalkeeper’s head, unless the head was moving towards the ball to block it. The other amendments clarified the throw-off, steps and touching the ball from outside the court, and changed no counts.
Source: IHF Rules of the Game, Indoor Handball, 1 July 2025, and the IHF’s summary of the 2025 amendments.
Online counter vs a clicker, an app, paper and a spreadsheet
Every counting method trades something away. This is what each one actually costs you.
| Feature | This online counter | Handheld clicker | Counter phone app | Pen and paper | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $5–$15 | Free with ads, or paid | Cost of paper | Subscription |
| Anything to install | No | Buy the device | App store download | No | Yes, or a web login |
| Several counts at once | Unlimited | One per device | Usually limited | Yes, messy | Yes |
| Fix a miscount | Undo and redo | Start over | Sometimes | Cross it out | Edit the cell |
| Counts by more than one | Any step size | One at a time | Sometimes | Manual maths | Yes |
| Below zero | Yes | No | Rarely | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps the count if you close it | Saves automatically | Until you reset the dial | Yes | If you keep the paper | Yes |
| Works with no signal | Yes, after first load | Yes | Yes | Yes | Often not |
| Keyboard and shortcuts | Full | None | None | None | Partial |
| Sends your data anywhere | Never | Never | Often, for accounts and ads | Never | Yes, to the cloud |
Other counter types
The same counter, set up and explained for a specific job. Your counters are shared across all of them.
Everyday6
The general-purpose counters: one number, many numbers, or counting on a timer.
Online counter
The all-purpose counter. Any step size, any number of counters, negative values allowed.
Open online counter →Tally counter
Tally marks in groups of five for surveys, stock takes and wildlife counts.
Open tally counter →Click counter
A browser clicker that replaces the handheld thumb counter for door headcounts.
Open click counter →Multi counter
Run as many counters as you like at once, side by side in a grid.
Open multi counter →Auto counter
Counts on its own from every 0.1 seconds to once an hour, and stops at your limit.
Open auto counter →Yes/No counter
Two options, a live percentage, and the sample size and caveats the percentage needs.
Open yes/no counter →
Sport & scores25
Scoreboards that know the rules of their game, not just two numbers that go up.
Score counter
A scoreboard for cards, darts and board games. One counter per player, negatives allowed.
Open score counter →Pitch counter
Count pitches, then get the rest days owed and the next eligible date.
Open pitch counter →Golf scorecard
Strokes per hole with the course handicap allocated by stroke index, net and Stableford.
Open golf scorecard →Badminton score counter
Rally scoring with the service court and doubles positions, for 3x21 and the 2027 3x15 system.
Open badminton score counter →Pickleball score counter
The 0-0-2 call with the right server and side, in side-out or 2026 rally scoring.
Open pickleball score counter →Squash score counter
Point-a-rally to 11 with the server, the service box, hand out and lets.
Open squash score counter →Penalty shootout counter
Five kicks each that stop the moment a team cannot catch up, then sudden death.
Open penalty shootout counter →Basketball score counter
Points by period with team fouls and the bonus as FIBA, NBA, NCAA or high school count them.
Open basketball score counter →Baseball score counter
Balls, strikes, outs and the line score, with foul bunts, dropped third strikes and walk-offs.
Open baseball score counter →Cricket score counter
Runs, wickets and overs by legal balls, with wides, no-balls, free hits and the chase.
Open cricket score counter →American football score counter
Touchdowns and the try at each level, with NFL, college and high school overtime rules.
Open american football score counter →Boxing score counter
Three judges' 10-point must cards and the verdict they give, split and majority draws included.
Open boxing score counter →Hockey score counter
Ice hockey goals and shots by period, with each league's overtime, shootout and standings points.
Open hockey score counter →Pool score counter
Straight pool with the breaking foul and three-foul penalties, and 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball races.
Open pool score counter →Rugby score counter
Union, sevens and league points, conversions tied to tries, golden point and bonus points.
Open rugby score counter →Soccer score counter
Goals by minute, five subs in three windows, second yellows, extra time and aggregate.
Open soccer score counter →Table tennis score counter
Games to 11 with the server named, doubles order, the swap at 5 and the expedite system.
Open table tennis score counter →Tennis score counter
Love to game with the server's court, every change of ends, tie-breaks and doubles order.
Open tennis score counter →Padel score counter
The 2026 Star Point, golden point or advantage, who serves and receives, and every change of sides.
Open padel score counter →Volleyball score counter
Rally scoring with the six-position rotation, the next server, time-outs, subs and beach mode.
Open volleyball score counter →Americano padel score counter
Rotating partners for 4 to 16 players, matches to a points total, and every player's running total.
Open americano padel score counter →Field hockey score counter
Goals by minute, a clock that stops, card timers in playing time, the 2026 card rules and shoot-outs.
Open field hockey score counter →Free throw counter
Make or miss, the percentage with its likely range, runs of makes, sets and make-50 goals.
Open free throw counter →Futsal score counter
Accumulated fouls per half with the 10 m kick, timeouts, a stopped clock and the red card timer.
Open futsal score counter →Judo score counter
The 2026 IJF rules: yuko back, a hold timer that scores itself, shido that never decide, golden score.
Open judo score counter →
Fitness & health6
Reps, laps, breaths and daily habits, where the count is part of the activity.
Lap counter
Count pool lengths, track laps and treadmill intervals without losing your place.
Open lap counter →Rep counter
Track reps and sets during a lifting session, with a step size for supersets.
Open rep counter →Click speed test
Measure your clicks per second over 1 to 60 seconds, with your personal best kept on-device.
Open click speed test →Habit counter
Count toward a daily target and keep the streak, with a day boundary you choose.
Open habit counter →Breath counter
Count breaths one to ten for meditation, with lost count recorded, or time breaths per minute.
Open breath counter →Craving tracker
Time each urge, rate it 1 to 10, and log whether you rode it out or acted on it.
Open craving tracker →
Work & field5
Counting that produces a record someone else relies on: stock, occupancy, lab work.
Differential counter
Six keys for a manual white cell differential, with an auto-stop and live percentages.
Open differential counter →People counter
In and out at a door, with live occupancy against a capacity and a fix for drift.
Open people counter →Bird counter
A row per species recording the high count, so a circling flock is not counted twice.
Open bird counter →Inventory counter
A count sheet holding the book quantity beside the counted one, with the variance per line.
Open inventory counter →Knitting counter
Rows, pattern repeats and a shaping schedule that names the increase rows and then ends.
Open knitting counter →
Faith2
Counts with their own rules about when a day turns over and what completes a set.
Frequently asked questions
How many timeouts in handball per game?
It depends on the competition. Rule 2:10 of the IHF Rules of the Game gives each team one 1-minute team time-out in each half, none in overtime. Its Note lets federations allow three per match instead, at most two in a half and one in the last five minutes, and EHF competitions have used three since 2012. The counter has a setting for each.
Does a 2-minute suspension end when a goal is scored in handball?
No. A handball suspension is always two minutes of playing time, whatever either team scores (Rule 16:5). That is the difference from ice hockey, where a minor penalty ends when the team on the power play scores, and from futsal. The suspension starts when play restarts and carries over half-time, and the counter never cuts one short.
What happens after three 2-minute suspensions in handball?
The third suspension for the same player is always a disqualification (Rules 16:5 and 16:6d). The player takes no further part, and the team plays one short for two minutes, after which another player may come on. Enter the shirt number with each suspension and the counter turns the third into a disqualification itself.
How many yellow cards can a handball team get?
Three. Under the Comment to Rule 16:1 a player should get no more than one warning and a team no more than three in total; after that, every foul that would earn a warning is at least a 2-minute suspension. A player already suspended should not then be warned, and a team’s officials get one warning between them.
How long is a handball game?
Two halves of 30 minutes for players aged 16 and over, with a half-time break of normally 10 minutes and at most 15. Youth matches are two halves of 25 minutes from 12 to 16 and of 20 minutes from 8 to 12. The clock stops for every time-out and suspension, so the match lasts longer than its 60 minutes on a wall clock.
How does overtime work in handball?
If a winner is needed, overtime follows a 5-minute break: two halves of 5 minutes with a 1-minute break between. If it is still level, a second overtime is played the same way. Then the competition’s rules decide, usually by 7-metre throwing, five throws each and then more until one team leads. There are no team time-outs in overtime.
Does the clock stop in handball?
Only when the referees stop it. A time-out is obligatory for a 2-minute suspension, a disqualification, a team time-out and a few other cases, and the referees also stop it for injuries. A goal does not stop the clock: the game restarts with a throw-off. The clock usually counts up through the match, to 60:00 at full time.
How does scoring work in handball?
A goal counts one, scored when the whole ball crosses the goal line between the posts, and the team with more goals wins. In league tables a win is usually worth 2 points and a draw 1. The counter keeps each goal with its match time and the scorer’s number, and shows the points as the match stands.
Is this an official handball score sheet?
No. It is a score counter for clubs, coaches, benches and anyone following a match. It keeps the goals, punishments, time-outs and suspension timers in this browser and sends nothing anywhere. Its clock starts when you tap Throw-off rather than with the timekeeper’s, and it cannot see the court, so it records whatever you tap.
Counting guides
Longer answers to the questions behind the counting.
- Swimming
How to count laps while swimming
Why swimmers lose count at length 14, and five methods that actually hold up.
- Tallying
Tally marks explained
Groups of five, the five-bar gate, and why the convention has survived for centuries.
- Events
How to do an accurate headcount
Counting people is easy. Counting them accurately, twice, is not.
- Habits
Track a daily habit streak
Why streak apps fail, and what a plain daily counter does better.
- Click speed
How to click faster
Hardware and grip account for most of the gap. Practice accounts for less than people think.
- Inventory
How to do a stock take
Counting is the easy part. Preparing, and knowing your count is right, is the job.
- Reference
Types of counters explained
Synchronous vs asynchronous, mod-N, ring and Johnson, plus mechanical and software counters.
- Build it
How to make a counter
Twenty lines gets you counting. Here is what to add after that, and why.
- Baseball
How to keep an official pitch count
Little League requires an official recorder at every game. Almost nobody explains the job.
- Dhikr
One tasbeeh is equal to how many?
The same phrase means a count of a hundred, a bead loop, a single dhikr, or the set after salah. Which one is meant, and when.
- Haematology
How to do a manual differential count
Why the pattern matters, how many cells is enough, and the imprecision built into the method itself.
- Birding
How to count a flock of birds
Blocks, tens, and why the number to report is the most seen at one time.
- Knitting
How to read knitting shaping instructions
Every 4th row, alt rows, at each end, AT THE SAME TIME — translated, with the rows they land on.
- Golf
Stableford points and net scores
Stroke index, strokes received, net score, points — in the order you actually need them.
- Surveys
How many people do you need to survey?
Why 385 answers a city and 45 answers a club, and the margin each sample size buys.
- Rules
Futsal rule changes 2025-26
Penalty-kick fouls stop counting, the dropped ball follows possession, and the 8-second rule is not futsal's.
- Rules
Handball timekeeper and scorekeeper
The clock, the suspension cards, the green card, the whistle that stops play, and the three attacks after an injury.
- Rules
Hockey rule changes from 1 November 2026
No second green or yellow, coaches' cards that cost a player, and what is not new since March.
- Training
Reps and sets explained
What 10 reps and 3x10 mean, where 3 sets of 10 came from, and what the 2026 ACSM review changed.