Matchday 23: Two derby classics and a landmark match in the relegation battle

Thursday, 20 March:

• The seventh-placed team in the table hosts the third-placed team in Mannheim - and for the Lions it's all about staying in contention for the European Cup places, while the Recken are just one point behind league leaders Melsungen.
• The Lions lost 24:29 in Kiel before the national team break, while Hannover-Burgdorf won by a wafer-thin 33:32 against Hamburg and have not been beaten in six games (five wins, one draw).
• Last week, Recken national players Renars Uscins and Justus Fischer had to withdraw from the German team due to injuries, while the Lions are missing national player Sebastian Heymann, among others.
• Three players from this duel are among the top eight scorers: Recken's Uscins (150 goals) and Marius Steinhauser (124) as well as Ivan Martinovic (Lions, 130).
• Christian Prokop's team won the home game 35:30, just like both games in the previous season, but the Lions have won 24:6 in total.

• HSVH has lost its last two games against Rhein-Neckar Löwen and VfL Gummersbach and is eleventh in the table with 21:23 points.
• MT Melsungen's lead has shrunk to one point as a result of the defeats in Flensburg and Magdeburg; MT won their last game 34:25 against Leipzig.
• With 578 goals conceded, MT has the best defence in the league on average; Hamburg has conceded exactly 100 goals more.
• MT goalkeeper Nebojsa Simic has 195 saves - the second-best tally in the league - while Hamburg's Frederik Bo Andersen is the best scorer for both teams with 110 goals.
• Melsungen won the first leg by a clear 35:28, in the last seven duels between the two teams there have only been home victories, with HSVH leading by a total of 19:6.

Friday, March 21:

• The two teams are level on minus points, but since Magdeburg have played three games less, the Foxes are second with 35:9 points, while SCM are sixth with 29:9 points.
• Berlin are unbeaten in six games (five wins, one draw), Magdeburg has won five of its last six games, but lost in Kiel in the meantime.
• The reverse fixture ended in a 31:31 draw, before which SCM had won seven out of eight duels against the Foxes. The Berliners have won 19 of 35 games, Magdeburg eleven times.
• SCM are still without numerous key players such as Gisli Kristjansson and Manuel Zehnder, but Omar Ingi Magnusson celebrated his comeback two weeks ago.
• Three Füchse players are among the top 10 scorers: World player Mathias Gidsel (170 goals), new German international Tim Freihöfer (143) and world champion Lasse Andersson (117). In addition, Dejan Milosavljev is the fifth-best goalkeeper in the league with 184 saves.
• Both teams have qualified for the Champions League Play-offs, with Magdeburg facing Bucharest and Berlin Kielce from Poland.

Saturday, 22 March:

• In November, SG won the 111th derby with 37:33 in Kiel, counting only the Bundesliga matches, the 75th derby is on the schedule on Saturday. THW are ahead with 42:29 wins in the league duels, with Kiel's last away win coming in May 2022.
• SG are fifth in the table (31:13), three points behind fourth-placed THW (34:10) - the hosts are five points behind league leaders Melsungen, Kiel are two behind.
• Two Danish world champions are currently the best scorers for both teams: Flensburg's Emil Jakobsen scored 156 times, Kiel's Emil Madsen 126 times. THW goalkeeper Andreas Wolff is by far the best goalkeeper in the league with 228 saves.
• While THW Kiel qualified for the cup semi-finals in Cologne for the first time and will face the Lions on 12 April, SG were eliminated in the quarter-finals against MT Melsungen.
• In the European League, the northern clubs have won their main round groups, are still unbeaten in the entire competition and have qualified directly for the quarter-finals.

• HC Erlangen have been waiting for a win since beating Göppingen 28:24 on 29 November and has only tied twice since then, although it did spring a surprise on the penultimate matchday with a 32:32 victory over Hannover-Burgdorf.
• With 6:36 points, Erlangen is second to last, four points ahead of Potsdam and two points behind Bietigheim.
• With three wins against the Lions, Hamburg and most recently Bietigheim, VfL Gummersbach have improved to eighth place with 24:18 points.
• VfL has won its last five games against Erlangen, including the 28:24 win in the first leg, but Erlangen leads 7:6 overall.

• Third from last against last - the game in Bietigheim is crucial for both teams.
• SG BBM have been waiting for their next win since their 26:21 victory in Wetzlar, have only picked up two points since then and are six points ahead of bottom-placed Potsdam.
• With the 28:25 win against TVB Stuttgart on the last matchday, Potsdam celebrated the first Bundesliga win in its history after 19 defeats. The gap between the bottom team and second-last Erlangen is now just four points.
• The first leg of the encounter between the promoted teams on the first matchday ended in a 28:26 win for Bietigheim, the first of two victories for the SG.

Sunday, 23 March:

• TVB Stuttgart have lost all five games so far in 2025 and are 15th in the table with 10:34 points.
• ThSV Eisenach have scored 5:5 points in the same period, most recently losing 24:36 to Magdeburg and is in tenth place with a balanced account (21:21 points).
• The Thuringians lost the first leg at home by 25:29; the two teams have met five times so far, with TVB winning twice and Eisenach once.
• Eisenach's Marko Grgic continues to lead the HBL scoring charts with 181 goals.

• Six points and three places are between ninth-placed TBV Lemgo Lippe (23:19 points) and SC DHfK Leipzig (17:27) in twelfth place.
• Lemgo recently celebrated three wins in a row against the relegation candidates Erlangen, Stuttgart and Potsdam, while Leipzig lost their last two games against the title candidates Berlin and Melsungen.
• TBV had won the reverse fixture 33:28, but had only won one of the previous eight encounters against Leipzig. The overall record is 9:5 in favour of the Saxons.

• This is the 48th time the two traditional clubs will face in the league, with 20 wins for HSG and 22 for FRISCH AUF! almost even. The last two duels went to Göppingen, as in the 27:24 win in the first leg.
• The two clubs are neighbours in the current table: With 16:28 points, the club from Central Hessen is 13th, while Göppingen is 14th with 13:31 points.
• Another similarity: Both teams have failed to win their last three duels, with Wetzlar recording three defeats (against Hannover-Burgdorf, Eisenach and Berlin) after two wins, while Göppingen recently drew 27:27 against their “favourite opponents” Flensburg after defeats against Lions and Magdeburg.
• And the two teams' most successful scorers are also “ranking neighbours”: Ludvig Hallbäck has scored 112 times for Göppingen and Dominik Mappes 110 times for Wetzlar.