Which keeper had the best save percentage at the end of the season? How many goals did the leading scorer score? And how hard does a professional handball player actually throw? All statistics and data on all matches in the world's strongest league are available to handball fans exclusively on the official DAIKIN HBL channels. Every match day, thousands of fans follow the action in the various arenas of the Bundesliga handball teams via the live ticker.

The fully digitalised and real-time data collection is carried out and published for all official matches of the DAIKIN HBL, the 2nd HBL and the DHB Cup. Performance data is also collected during the Handball Super Cup. The data is collected in two different ways:

1) All handball matches are supervised by a two-person referee. It records the key match information (goal progression, goal scorers, penalty throws, playing time, penalties) live and transfers this data to the ‘electronic match report’.

2) Independently of the referees, two additional scouts, who are specially trained by the Handball Bundesliga in cooperation with sports data partner Sportradar, record in-depth statistics (goals, assists, saves, technical errors, etc.) for each match. Using web-based software, this data ends up directly in the official live ticker of Handball-Bundesliga GmbH, for example. The basis for the collection of data by the scouts is the scouting manual.

Immediately after the final whistle, the referee's data is automatically synchronised with the scouts' entries. In the course of this ‘merging process’, data may be overwritten and updated after the end of the match. All data overwritten in the merging process is checked again manually after the end of the matches. As a result, data within the live ticker or the website may also change at a later date.

By the way: Some clubs are currently still looking for suitable scouts. Are you interested in supporting the Handball Bundesliga with data collection? You can find more information here.

Since the 2019/20 season, all players in all DAIKIN HBL matches have been equipped with a sensor that records all position and performance data in real time via geodata tracking. This makes it possible, for example, to determine how many kilometres a player has walked during a match. Additional ball data is also tracked in all matches played with a match ball from the manufacturer SELECT. This makes it possible to visualise the throwing patterns of individual players or to determine the hardness of the throw. These statistics are tracked independently of the data collection process outlined above.

This data is sent to teams, media organisations and fans in real time via external feeds from the tracking service provider Kinexon.

What role do match and tracking data play in the evaluation of player performance in the DAIKIN HBL? How is the ‘DKB Player of the Month’ actually determined based on this data? And what is the Handball Performance Index actually all about?

For the 2020/21 season, the Handball Bundesliga launched the Handball Performance Index in cooperation with Deutsche Kreditbank AG and a renowned task force from the world of competitive handball and science. With the help of the multitude of different data and statistics collected during all DAIKIN HBL matches, it will be possible to compare and evaluate sporting performances in a data-based and transparent manner. For example, players collect plus points for ‘positive actions’ (e.g. goals, assists, saves, steals) during a match. Minus points are awarded for ‘negative actions’ (e.g. missed shots, technical errors) and thus reduce a player's HPI. Further information on the calculation and creation of the Handball Performance Index can be found here.