Classification of Handball Keepers

In recent years, there has been an increase in the collection and use of play data in professional sports such as baseball and soccer. Sabermetrics, which is a method for objectively evaluating players and tactics based on data, has been widely accepted by the general public, particularly in baseball. On the other hand, in handball, most of the analyses are often discussed within the scope of basic aggregation. The save rate of goalkeepers in the men’s world handball championship held in Egypt in 2021 was higher than in previous competitions. We believe that this is a significant contribution to the Japanese team’s advancement to the main round for the first time in 12 tournaments. In this study, we calculated the saving rate of each shot course of goalkeepers, classified them based on these values, and discussed their characteristics.