The men's handball competition, one of two events of handball at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, took place at the Sports Pavilion (Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex) during the preliminary round and quarter-finals (August 14–August 24), and at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena during the semi-finals and medal matches (August 27–August 29).

A total of 180 players, distributed among twelve national teams, participated in this tournament.

Venio LosertVlado ŠolaValter MatoševićNikša KalebIvano Balić Blaženko LackovićVedran ZrnićIgor VoriDavor DominikovićMirza DžombaDrago VukovićSlavko GolužaGoran ŠpremDenis ŠpoljarićPetar Metličić Henning FritzChristian RamotaPascal HensMark DragunskiStefan KretzschmarJan Olaf ImmelChristian SchwarzerKlaus-Dieter PetersenVolker ZerbeMarkus BaurChristian ZeitzTorsten JansenDaniel StephanFlorian KehrmannFrank von Behren Andrey LavrovAlexey KostygovVitali IvanovOleg KuleshovDenis KrivoshlykovAleksandr TuchkinVasily KudinovPavel BashkinDmitri TorgovanovAlexander GorbatikovAlexey RastvortsevVyacheslav GorpishinSergey PogorelovMikhail ChipurinEduard Koksharov For the preliminary round, contested between August 14 and August 22, the twelve teams were distributed into two groups of six teams.

In this single-elimination stage, the first- and second-placed teams of one group played against the other group's fourth- and third-placed teams, respectively, to contest the quarter-final round, held on August 24, at the Sports Pavilion.

The winners advanced to the semi-finals, disputed at the Indoor Arena on August 27, with the losing semi-finalists playing for the bronze medal match on the following day, and the final being played two days later.