Matchday 7: Summit meeting, chasing duel and East derby

Thursday, 17 October:

• In his third first division game in the service of HC Erlangen, Martin Schwalb returns to his previous club from Mannheim, which he coached from 2020 to 2022.
• The Rhein-Neckar Löwen have won all three home games so far, but most recently had no chance in the 27:34 defeat at the new leaders Füchse Berlin and are in seventh place with 8:4 points.
• On Monday, HC Erlangen held on to SC DHfK Leipzig for one half, but then lost clearly 25:31 - the fifth defeat in six games for the 15th-placed team, which has so far only won against newly promoted side of Potsdam.
• Löwen goalkeeper David Späth is still at the top of the goalkeeping rankings with 74 saves, Ivan Martinovic is the second-best scorer with 50 goals.
• HCE won the last game against the Löwen in the previous season 28:23, but in the overall statistics the Mannheim team has the edge with 9:4 wins.

• Both teams have lost their last two games each: Wetzlar in Eisenach and against Berlin, Hamburg against Kiel and at the Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
• With 5:7 points, Hamburg are in eleventh place, Wetzlar are currently 16th with 2:10 points.
• HSG are still waiting for its first point of the season at home, the only win was in Stuttgart.
• HSVH have won the last four games against Wetzlar, the last HSG win dates back to 2022, overall, the score between the two clubs is 23:7 wins for Hamburg.

Friday, 18 October:

• VfL recently played two draws in a row, first 29:29 at home against Flensburg, then 24:24 in Göppingen. In tenth place, Gummersbach are on 8:6 points.
• Eisenach showed their strongest performance of the season so far on the last matchday in the 30:22 against Wetzlar and celebrated its second win - with 4:8 points, the Thuringians are twelfth in the table.
• With 37 goals, Marko Grgic is the best ThSV shooter and has three goals more to his name than Kentin Mahe, the most accurate Gummersbach player.
• Since 2003, VfL has won all eight games against Eisenach, with a total of 14:6 wins for Gummersbach.

• The 14th-placed team hosts the 13th-placed team in the Swabian derby: Göppingen is the only team in the DAIKIN HBL without a win, along with Potsdam, but celebrated its second draw last weekend with a 24:24 draw against Gummersbach.
• After four points from the first three games of the season, newly promoted side of Bietigheim lost the next three games, most recently 23:28 against Lemgo, and has 4:8 points on their account.
• Both teams have only met four times so far, each game was a home win, so the score is 2:2.

Saturday, 19 October:

• The absolute top game of the seventh matchday: the second-placed team from Melsungen locks horns with the leaders Berlin, who are on the same number of points.
• Both teams have won five of their six games, the only defeats coming on the third matchday - Melsungen against the Löwen, Berlin against the Recken.
• Even the goal difference is almost identical at +27 in favor of Berlin and +26 for Melsungen - although Berlin has the significantly better attack with 211 goals, while MT has the better defense with 146 goals conceded.
• The trio Mathias Gidsel (51), Lasse Andersson (45) and Tim Freihöfer (39) have scored a total of 135 goals, just 37 fewer than the entire Melsungen team.
• In the previous season, both teams won their home games, and in the last ten duels, Berlin have won seven times, with the overall score being 19:10 in favor of the Füchse.

• Record champions against pointless newcomers in the first duel in history - the roles seem clearly assigned.
• THW have won their last two games against Stuttgart and at Hamburg, are sixth with 8:4 points, while Potsdam has lost all five games so far, most recently 22:27 against Hannover-Burgdorf.
• With 44 goals, Kiel's new signing Emil Madsen is currently the sixth best scorer in the HBL.

Sunday, 20 October:

• The warriors from Hannover-Burgdorf are the only HBL team to have won the last five games – after the opening defeat against Gummersbach.
• SG Flensburg came out of step after four wins at the start, first gave their first point in Gummersbach from their hands, and lost the top game last Saturday against champions and cup winners SC Magdeburg 27:29.
• With 10:2 points, Hannover are level on points with the top duo from Berlin and Melsungen and are in third place, one point and one place ahead of Flensburg.
• In the match, the current third-best HBL scorer Emil Jakobsen (49 goals for Flensburg) will face fourth-placed Renars Uscins (48 goals for Hannover).
• On 13 November, both teams will duel again in Hannover in the round of 16 of the DHB-Cup.
• Last season, the Recken achieved a 26:26 draw at home against the SG, then lost 28:31 in Flensburg; the overall record is 20 wins for Flensburg and five for the Recken.

• Before the Eastern duel, both teams have eight points each; but because Magdeburg has played one game less, the champions and cup winners are in fifth place with 8:2 points, three places ahead of SC DHfK (8:4 points)
• Magdeburg won the top game in Flensburg 29:27 last weekend, Leipzig beat Erlangen 31:25 on Monday.
• Both goalkeepers were their teams' match winners on the last matchday: Sergej Hernandez for Magdeburg and Domenico Ebner for Leipzig.
• The 27:27 in Leipzig was Magdeburg's last point loss in the previous season for a long time, SCM won the return match 30:28, the last Leipzig win was 33:32 in February 2023, overall Magdeburg is ahead 10:5.

• TBV Lemgo Lippe have never lost at home against TVB Stuttgart, with seven wins and one draw in eight games. The Swabians celebrated all five wins against TBV at home.
• Lemgo won the last two games in Bietigheim and against Leipzig, and are currently ninth in the table with 8:4 points.
• Stuttgart have lost their last four games, with their only win in seven games coming in Erlangen. With 2:12 points, TVB are second to last.