Matchday 2: Second East duel for the Foxes, NRW derby with anniversary character and champions vs. former champions

Thursday, 12 September:

• Despite a strong game by returning Andreas Wolff (15 saves), the highly ambitious THW Kiel had to admit a 27:32 defeat to the Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the top match at the start of the season.
• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen took a 29:29 draw against Handball Sport Verein Hamburg after a real rollercoaster ride.
• The two traditional clubs are clashing for the 69th time in the Bundesliga, the record clearly speaks in favor of Kiel with 55:11 wins; Göppingen's last success dates back to 2015, and they celebrated their only away win in Kiel in 1978.

• European Cup participant and cup finalist against newly promoted team - MT Melsungen are the favorite not just because of the home advantage.
• MT have confidently moved into the group phase of the European League with two wins over the Norwegian runner-up Elverum and have also clearly won their HBL opening game 28:20 against TBV Lemgo Lippe. Dainis Kristopans and Rogerio Moraes each scored five times.
• 1. VfL Potsdam lost their first division debut in the club's history by a narrow margin of 26:28 against fellow promoted team SG BBM Bietigheim.

Friday, 13 September:

• Last year, ThSV Eisenach, as a newly promoted team, ended the season in 14th place, two points and two positions ahead of HC Erlangen.
• Both teams started the 2024/25 season with defeats against top teams - and each conceded more than 40 goals: Erlangen lost 28:42 to SG Flensburg-Handewitt, ThSV Eisenach lost 35:41 at home to Füchse Berlin.
• Manuel Zehnder, who was loaned to Eisenach from Erlangen at the time, was the Bundesliga top scorer in the 2023/24 season with 277 goals - and now plays for SC Magdeburg.
• The two games in the previous season were the first ever duels of two clubs, each of which won their home games - Eisenach 28:26, Erlangen 28:23.

Saturday, 14 September:

• In the first Baden-Württemberg duel of the new season, two winners of the first match day face each other: SG BBM Bietigheim celebrated a hard-fought 28:26 away victory at the duel of the promoted teams at 1. VfL Potsdam, while Rhein-Neckar Löwen won the top game 32:27 against THW Kiel.
• Goalkeeper David Späth stood out for the Lions with 13 saves, new signing Ivan Martinovic scored ten goals.
• Bietigheim secured the win in Potsdam with a double strike after the 24:24.
• Both teams have met four times so far, and the Lions have won four times, each time by at least ten goals difference.

Sunday, 15 September:

• HSVH started the new season with a 25:25 draw in Göppingen, the supposed winning goal was disallowed after video proof.
• SC Magdeburg, which lost to Füchse Berlin in the Handball Super Cup, had problems with HSG Wetzlar for a while, but ultimately won comfortably 35:28 - also because goalkeeper Sergej Hernandez fended off 13 shots.
• In the duels between the current champions and cup winners and the ex-champions and ex-cup winners, there were two clear SCM victories in the previous season: in Hamburg, the Wiegert team won 43:28, at home it was 35:24.
• Hamburg's last victory against the club world champions was in March 2015, but overall, HSVH are ahead in the statistics with 18:14 wins.

• Two losers from the first round lock horns in Wetzlar: HSG lost 28:35 to champions and cup winners SC Magdeburg despite a long-time strong performance, while TSV Hannover-Burgdorf suffered a 28:32 home defeat against VfL Gummersbach despite ten goals of wing player Marius Steinhauser.
• Last season, the match in Wetzlar ended in a 32:32 draw, before, Recken had lost their home game 30:33. Overall, the statistics includes 16 wins for Wetzlar and ten for Hannover-Burgdorf.

• After the relegation of the Bergischer HC, this duel is the only remaining NRW derby in the DAIKIN HBL - and the match is a small anniversary, because both teams face in Bundesliga for the 75th time.
• Gummersbach celebrated a perfect start to the season, winning 32:28 against Hanover in the league and also qualifying for the group phase of the European League with two clear victories against Mors-Thy from Denmark.
• With 18 saves against Hanover, Gummersbach's Croatian newcomer Dominik Kuzmanovic celebrated a dream debut in his first Bundesliga game.
• TBV lost clearly at home to MT Melsungen on the first match day (20:28 ) despite 14 saves by the new Austrian goalkeeper Constantin Möstl.
• VfL won both games against Lemgo in the 2023/24 season (26:23, 30:27), with Lemgos having a total of 35 wins in the statistics, and Gummersbach are on 32. Lemgo's last home win against VfL dates back to 2018.

• Stuttgart started the new season with a clear 24:33 defeat against Leipzig, while SG Flensburg-Handewitt achieved the clearest victory on the first matchday with a 42:28 win against HC Erlangen. Olympic champion Emil Jakobsen scored eleven times for SG.
• The 34:31 win last season was Stuttgart's first victory in a total of 17 duels against SG - compared to 15 wins by the current European League winner and one draw.

• After the 41:35 opening victory in Eisenach, the second East duel awaits the Handball Super Cup winner and runner-up from Berlin.
• World handball player and Olympic MVP Mathias Gidsel and U21 world champion Tim Freihöfer were the most successful overall scorers on the first match day with twelve goals each against Eisenach.
• SC DHfK Leipzig also started the season with a clear victory: after a balanced first half, the score was 33:24 against TVB Stuttgart; Matej Klima scored seven times for the trade fair city team.
• In the previous season, the Füchse won both duels with Leipzig (37:28, 31:29), SC DHfK's last victory over the capital city team dates back to 2019, the overall record includes 13 Füchse victories and four Leipzig successes.