Matchday 16: One more summit meeting before christmas - and Jogi's last game

Sunday, 22nd December:

• HSVH goalkeeper Johannes Bitter will be between the posts for the last time - it is his 657th HBL game, since the summer he has already been working in a new role in the Hamburg management.
• The Hamburg team have won four of their last five games, most recently 35:29 against newly promoted SG BBM Bietigheim, the only defeat in this period was suffered by Torsten Jansen's team against league leaders Melsungen. With an equal points tally of 15:15, the HSVH is in ninth place in the table.
• After parting ways with coach Nicolej Krickau, SG Flensburg-Handewitt won the top league game against Füchse Berlin on Monday with 38:37 under his interim successor Anders Eggert, but lost the cup quarter-finals 28:30 at MT Melsungen. With 21:9 points, the SG is currently sixth in the HBL table, five points behind league leaders Melsungen.
• With 104 goals, SG left winger Emil Jakobsen is the fifth best scorer in the HBL, the best HSVH scorers Leif Tissier (74) and Frederik Bo Andersen (73) are almost on a par.
• Since 2014, SG have won all eight duels against Hamburg, and the overall score is 17:11 for Flensburg.

• The Füchse lost points in the two top games against Magdeburg (31:31) and on Monday in Flensburg (37:38) and are now four points behind Melsungen with 22:8 points.
• Thanks to the two wins against Lemgo and most recently the 27:24 against HSG Wetzlar, FRISCH AUF! Göppingen has improved to 13th place in the table with 10:20 points.
• Füchse world handball player Mathias Gidsel is the third best scorer in the HBL with 115 goals, his teammate Tim Freihöher is six goals shy from 100 goals this season. The best Göppingen scorer Ludvig Hallbäck has netted 73 goals so far.
• Göppingen reached a 29:29 draw in Berlin last season, and scored 3:3 points in the last three games against the capital club. And the overall score is also almost even at 24:23 in favour of the Füchse.

• Since the 33:37 home defeat against Flensburg in mid-November, THW Kiel have won all five league games, most recently 32:28 in Leipzig. The Zebras are level on points with the Füchse in fourth place with 22:8 points.
• And in the cup, THW qualified for the Lidl Final4 in Cologne for the first time - thanks to the 36:33 victory on Thursday against VfL Gummersbach, including eight goals from Emil Madsen and 13 saves from Andreas Wolff. The semi-final opponent in Cologne on April 12th are Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
• Newcomer SG BBM Bietigheim have recently lost ground, have not won the last seven games with five defeats and two draws. Iker Romero's team most recently lost 29:35 at home to Hamburg.
• The best scorers on both teams are Emil Madsen (Kiel) with 82 goals and Bietigheim's Tom Wolf with 48 goals. With 137 saves, Andreas Wolff is the second-best goalkeeper in the league.
• The record speaks for itself: THW have won all four games against SG BBM, each with a difference of at least eleven goals.

• HC Erlangen are currently second to last with 5:25 points. Martin Schwalb's team recently suffered two defeats against Hannover-Burgdorf (25:31) and in Gummersbach. Before that, HCE had scored 3:1 points.
• After four defeats in a row, TBV Lemgo Lippe's last game against VfL Potsdam was abandoned after a few minutes due to a medical emergency in the stands. Lemgo are currently tenth with 14:14 points.
• Samuel Zehnder (65 goals for Lemgo) and Tim Gömmel (54 for Erlangen) are the best scorers on both teams.
• In the duels last season, both teams won their home games. Overall, the TBV has 8:5 wins.

• Cancellation of match between SC Magdeburg and ThSV Eisenach. To the statement of the HBL in coordination with SC Magdeburg and the clubs of the DAIKIN Handball-Bundesliga and the 2nd Handball-Bundesliga: https://www.daikin-hbl.de/de/more/content/erkl%C3%A4rung-der-hbl-in-abstimmung-mit-dem-sc-magdeburg-und-den-clubs-aus-daikin-handball-bundesliga-und-2-handball-bundesliga-1

• HSG Wetzlar have won three of the last six games, but most recently lost 24:27 in Göppingen. In 14th place, HSG have 10:20 points.
• Gummersbach recently lost against the two top teams from Magdeburg (28:37) and on Monday against Melsungen (24:29 after leading 21:20). With 16:12 points, VfL are currently seventh.  Gummersbach also suffered an unfortunate 33:36 defeat to record winners THW Kiel in the cup quarter-final on Thursday.
• HSG's best scorer is Dominik Mappes, who moved from Gummersbach to Wetzlar before the season, with 69 goals. Milos Vujovic scored 63 times for VfL.
• Inthe 2023/24 season there were two home wins in the Wetzlar vs. Gummersbach duels. In the 2022/23 season, VfL won both games, and before that Wetzlar were the winners. VfL won 28 times and 16 times against HSG.

Monday, 23rd December:

• First against second - in Kassel a preliminary decision can be made as to who will go into the World Cup break as the leader. With 26:4 points, MT are two points ahead of the Recken from Hannover-Burgdorf. Both teams have lost two games each, but TSV also had two draws.
• With the 29:24 in Gummersbach, Melsungen extended its series to eleven wins in the last twelve games, losing only in Eisenach. And in the DHB Cup quarter-finals, Roberto Parrondo Garcia's team managed a 30:28 victory in a thriller against SG Flensburg-Handewitt, meaning Melsungen qualified for the final tournament in Cologne for the second time in a row. Their opponent in the semi-final is second division team HBW Balingen-Weilstetten.
• After twelve wins without defeat, the Recken series was broken on the penultimate matchday with a 24:28 defeat in Kiel, and the Prokop team most recently won 31:25 against Erlangen.
• Hannover have scored 473 goals so far, ten more than MT, who have the better defense with 389 goals conceded compared to 413 for the Recken. MT goalkeeper Nebojsa Simic also played a major role in this. He is currently the best goalkeeper in the league with 139 saves and has also prematurely extended his contract with MT until 2029.
• Three Recken players are in the top 10 of the HBL goal scorers list: Renars Uscins (117), Marius Steinhauser (81) and Justus Fischer (79), the best MT shooter is Dainis Kristopans with 60 goals.
• In the last three games against the Recken, the MT are unbeaten with two wins and one draw. Overall, the North Hesse team leads in direct comparison with 17:9 wins, but with 8:6 wins they have a weaker home record than in Hanover (9:3 wins).

• VfL Potsdam are already two games behind its competitors before its first ever game against Leipzig, the game against Magdeburg will take place in 2025 and most recently the away game in Lemgo was abandoned due to a medical emergency. After 13 games, the promoted team is still waiting for its first point.
• SC DHfK Leipzig have lost their last four games, most recently a 28:32 against THW Kiel, with 12:18 points the Saxons are now twelfth.
• The best scorers on both teams are currently Luca Witzke with 69 goals for Leipzig and Josip Simic, who scored 45 times for Potsdam.

• The TVB is the team of the moment in the second half of the table: the third-to-last team has collected six of its eight points in the last three games with victories against Göppingen, Bietigheim and Eisenach.
• It has been up and down for the Löwen recently: before and after the victory against Flensburg, the Baden team lost in Hanover and most recently against Magdeburg with 25:36. With 16:12 points, the Löwen are seventh in the table.
• In the cup quarter-finals, the Löwen celebrated a 31:28 victory against arch-rivals Eisenach on Thursday, with Ivan Martinovic once again being outstanding with eleven goals. In the semi-final of the Lidl Final4 on April 12th, Löwen will lock horns with THW Kiel in Cologne.
• With 110 goals, Lions newcomer Ivan Martinovic is currently the fourth best scorer in the league, the most successful TVB goalscorer is Lenny Rubin with 69 goals.
• In the previous season, Stuttgart surprised the Lions with a 32:31 home win, before that the Badeners had won four times in a row, and are also clearly ahead overall with 14:3 wins.