Handball appeared in Russia in the early 20th Century and in the first stages of development, the game was played in two forms, eleven and seven players. This continued until the end of the 1940´s. With its ever growing popularity, the game was unified with the foundation of the Handball Union in 1955. With the organisation of the Union and the development of various handball branches, teams and competitions, Russia decided on the 7-player form in the 1960´s. For the next thirty years, until 1993, Russia´s national team played under the banner of the Soviet Union.

Russia´s first appeared at the 1994 edition of the EHF Euro and has partaken in every major handball event since then. The team has had numerous successes and rank among the very few nations that have attained European, World and Olympic gold medals. Despite a poor showing in Beijing, the Russian national team is back at another major handball event and want to show their opponents in Group A that they have returned to the top form that is synonymous with Russian Handball.