HK Sandnes

Sandnes sits in the middle of the Jæren agricultural belt, a town that grew fast on industry and shipbuilding, and its handball club has spent six decades as one of the outlets for that growth. Sandnes HK was not built from nothing: it split off from the multi-sport club Sandnes Ulf on 12 November 1965, with Edvard Mjåland as the first chairman and Roald Sværi, Erling Rugland and Oskar Hagen alongside him on the founding committee.

The club's colours are not original either. For most of its history Sandnes HK played in yellow and black; the light blue and grey now on the crest date to 2013, when the club merged with Sandved Julebygda Håndballklubb and adopted a new identity along with the new playing staff.

Sandnes HK has never won the REMA 1000-ligaen or the NM Cup, and its best finish at that level remains tenth place in the 2017/2018 season, the year it returned to the top flight after promotion. The club dropped back down and won the 1. Division, the second tier, in 2022 to earn another promotion. Heine Ernst Jensen has led the side as head coach since 2019; further back, Rune Erland, one of the more celebrated names in Norwegian handball, played for the club at 2. divisjon level. More recently the squad has leaned on its own production line, sending players through to Norway's youth national teams.

The fixture that matters locally is against Nærbø IL. Games between the two are known as "Slaget om Jæren" or the "Jæren-duellen", and a 2020 cooperation agreement between the clubs to develop young players in the district has done little to soften it.