The 12 men's teams and ten women's teams are split into two even pools, each team having to play every other in the pool. The top four teams from each pool then advance to the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners advance to semi-finals, while the four losing teams play each other again to decide fifth to eighth place. The losing semi-finalists play for the bronze.
The game is played on a court 40 metres long and 20 metres wide, divided in two by a centre line and having a goal at either end. The goal is three metres wide and two metres high. The goal area is D-shaped, the arc six metres out from the goal mouth. The free throw line, a dotted line, forms an arc three metres further out into the court. The leather ball weighs between 425g and 475g for men and between 325g and 400g for women.
A game consists of 30-minute halves with a ten-minute break at half-time. The game starts, and post-goal play resumes, with a throw-off; a player stands with one foot on the centre line and throws the ball to a team-mate behind the line at least three metres away.
Goals are hard to score in that nobody but the goalkeeper is allowed in the goal area. Players may use any part of their bodies except their lower legs and feet to handle the ball, though they are not allowed to throw the ball to themselves; more than one touch of the ball must be part of a continuous movement such as a dribble. Players can hold the ball for only three seconds before passing, dribbling or shooting, they must take no more than three steps with the ball, and can take only three further steps during a dribble.
A free throw is awarded for minor offences and is taken on the spot where the offence occurred, unless inside the free-throw line (nine metres out from the goal), in which case it is taken at the free-throw line. A penalty throw is awarded for a serious offence and is taken from the penalty line seven metres in front of the goal. The goalkeeper is alone in being allowed to defend the penalty and can come out of his goal up to the four-metre line. Players may not steal or strike the ball from other players, nor must they obstruct them with their arms or legs.
If the ball goes out of bounds over the sidelines, a throw-in is awarded to the opposite team. If the ball goes over the back line, the goalkeeper gets a throw if the ball was put out by an offensive player, and the offending team gets a corner throw is awarded if the ball is put out by the defending team. A referee throws the ball into the air in cases where there is doubt about who put the ball out of play.
