Matchday 22: National team goalkeepers and relegation candidates in direct duels

 Thursday, 6 March:

• After the two away wins in Potsdam and most recently the 26:22 in Stuttgart, TBV Lemgo Lippe have moved up to tenth place with 21:19 points and have been unbeaten for three games.
• HC Erlangen, after changing coach from Martin Schwalb back to Johannes Sellin and following six defeats in a row, recently scored an important point in the relegation battle with a 33:33 draw against Recken from Hannover-Burgdorf. The penultimate team is now just two points behind third-placed Bietigheim.
• Lemgo Lippe won the first leg 28:19, it was the ninth TBV victory in the 17th duel, Erlangen won five times.

• Which series will break in the basement duel? After 19 games, promoted 1. VfL Potsdam are bottom of the table with no points.
• TVB Stuttgart have also yet to win a game in 2025, the last of their four defeats being 22:26 against TBV Lemgo Lippe. The last win came on 27 December in the reverse fixture against Potsdam, the first ever encounter between the two clubs.

 Friday, 7 March:

• VfL Gummersbach recently won 37:30 in Hamburg, their second victory in a row. With 22:18 points, the club is eighth in the table in its 100th anniversary year.
• SG BBM Bietigheim have been waiting for their next win since 31 October and the 26:21 victory in Wetzlar, with one draw in the following eleven games and most recently a 24:39 home defeat against THW Kiel. The promoted team is currently 16th with 8:34 points.
• In the reverse fixture, VfL took a narrow 32:30 away win, while in the previous season there was a draw in Bietigheim and a Gummersbach home win.
• Both coaches have already won the Champions League as players with FC Barcelona: Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson (Gummersbach) and Iker Romero (Bietigheim).

• Two defeats in the last three games are on the record for the previously so commanding leaders MT Melsungen: first 28:29 in Magdeburg, then 33:35 in Flensburg on Saturday. As a result, the lead over the chasing duo from Hanover and Berlin has shrunk to one point, with Melsungen on 34:8 points.
• SC DHfK Leipzig was on the court twice last week: the 34:19 win against Potsdam was followed by a 30:33 defeat against Füchse Berlin. With 17:25 points, the Saxons are currently twelfth in the table.
• Two German internationals are currently the best scorers for both clubs: Luca Witzke scored 109 times for Leipzig, Timo Kastening 75 times for MT.
• Although Melsungen narrowly won the first leg 28:27, Leipzig have not lost four of the last six encounters (three wins, one draw). The overall record is 11:6 in favour of MT.

 Saturday, 8 March:

• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen have lost five of their last six league games, interrupted only by a 31:27 win against Eisenach, and most recently conceded an unfortunate 28:29 loss in the Baden-Württemberg derby at Rhein-Neckar Löwen. In 14th place, the Swabians currently have 12:30 points to their name.
• The SG Flensburg-Handewitt, meanwhile, created tension in the league again with a 35:33 win against MT Melsungen on the last matchday and consolidated fifth place in the table (30:12 points). However, the SG had previously lost 31:36 at the Füchse.
• Göppingen have been unbeaten against the SG in their home arena for five home games with two wins and three draws. Flensburg won the first leg 37:32 and are clearly ahead in the overall standings with 37:8 wins (with eight draws).
• Marko Kopljar will make his debut for SG in Göppingen, having been brought in at short notice following the injury to Simon Pytlick (broken arm) and the absence of Kay Smits (heart problems).
• Two Scandinavians are currently the best scorers for both clubs: the Dane Emil Jakobsen is third in the HBL scoring charts with 149 goals, while the Swede Ludvig Hallbäck has scored 105 times so far.

• With the 32:31 nail-biting win at HSG Wetzlar, ThSV Eisenach are still in ninth place with 21:19 points. The Thuringians have scored 5:1 points in their last three home games.
• After the defeat in Kiel, SC Magdeburg won their next three games, most recently 25:15 against VfL Potsdam - in Omar Ingi Magnusson's comeback.
• The game is the first encounter between the two traditional East German clubs this season (second leg on 22 May); Magdeburg have won the last eight games against Eisenach, with the last of ThSV's four HBL victories dating back to 2003. Magdeburg has won a total of 15 times.
• ThSV goalkeeper Silvio Heinevetter will play against his former club, with whom he won the EHF Cup in 2007.
• Marko Grgic (Eisenach) now leads the DAIKIN HBL scorer list with 171 goals after his 13 goals in Wetzlar.

 Sunday, 9 March:

• The Füchse are unbeaten in the six games after the defeat in Flensburg, with five wins and one draw, most recently Berlin won 33:30 in Leipzig. The capital city club is level on points with the Recken (33:9) in second place in the table.
• HSG Wetzlar have narrowly lost their last two games against Hannover-Burgdorf (32:34) and Eisenach (30:31) - after two wins in a row - and are in 13th place with 16:26 points.
• With 163 goals from Mathias Gidsel and 136 from Tim Freihöfer, the Füchse are twice among the top five scorers in the league.
• The Berliners have won their last seven games against Wetzlar since September 2021, with the first leg ending 34:25. HSG have beaten the Füchse six times in total, while the Berliners have won 26 times.

• TSV Hannover-Burgdorf let a win slip from their grasp in Erlangen with a 33:33, but are still unbeaten in the last five games. With 33:9 points, the Recken are second, one point behind MT Melsungen.
• After previously winning 5:1 points, Handball Sport Verein Hamburg lost their last home game by a clear 30:37 against VfL Gummersbach and are in eleventh place with an equal points account (21:21).
• Renars Uscins (Hannover-Burgdorf) is the fourth-best scorer in the DAIKIN HBL with 148 goals, Frederik Bo Andersen scored 104 times for Hamburg.
• The first leg ended in a 32:32 draw; both teams won their respective away games in the previous season, with a total of twelve HSVH wins and three Recken victories.

• 210:190 - that's the number of saves made by the two national goalkeepers ahead of this head-to-head clash. Andreas Wolff (THW Kiel) leads the HBL goalkeeper rankings, while David Späth (Rhein-Neckar Löwen) is third behind Gummersbach's Dominik Kuzmanovic.
• THW have lost only one of their last ten games (25:27 in Wetzlar) and are now just two points behind league leaders MT Melsungen with 32:8 points. Kiel recently won clearly with 39:24 in Bietigheim.
• The Rhein-Neckar Löwen won their last match 29:28 against Göppingen and have won three of their last five games, including a draw against Hamburg and a defeat against Gummersbach. They are seventh in the table with 25:15 points.
• The Lions have won the last two duels against THW, including 32:27 in the first leg, and the overall score after wins is 28:11 in favour of Kiel.
• Both teams will duel again on 12 April in the semi-finals of the Lidl Final4.