Matchday 29: Can Stuttgart’s draw specialists pull off another upset against league leaders Magdeburg?

Thursday, 23rd April:

• Third vs fourth, a battle for a potential Champions League place, cup winners vs serial champions – this clash is the true highlight of Matchday 29.
• Füchse won the German Cup on Sunday with a 42:33 victory over Bergischer HC, securing the title for the second time since 2014 and qualifying for the European League. The Berlin club now holds all three domestic titles simultaneously – league, Super Cup and cup.
• Füchse have won 11 of their last 12 HBL matches, while VfL Gummersbach have won each of their last 11 games. Berlin (44:12) are one point ahead of Gummersbach (43:13).
• Gummersbach won the reverse fixture convincingly 34:29, while Berlin had previously gone ten matches unbeaten against them.
• Berlin’s world player Mathias Gidsel leads the HBL scoring chart with 250 goals, 110 more than Gummersbach’s top scorer Miro Schluroff (140); his backcourt teammate Julian Köster is sidelined through injury.

• With five wins from their last six matches, FRISCH AUF! Göppingen have climbed to ninth in the HBL table, one place but five points behind Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
• The Löwen have lost their last two matches and are eight points behind the first secure European qualification place.
• The top scorers for both teams are Jannik Kohlbacher (175 goals for the Löwen) and Marcel Schiller (145 for Göppingen); Löwen goalkeeper David Späth leads the HBL rankings with 270 saves, while playmaker Haukur Thrastarson tops the assists chart with 159.
• The Löwen have been unbeaten against Göppingen since June 2022, recording five wins and two draws, including a 30:30 in the reverse fixture. The overall record clearly favours the Löwen (28–9 wins).

Friday, April 24:

• One of two key clashes in the relegation battle: a win for ThSV Eisenach would almost secure their survival, while a victory for Minden would add even more tension to the bottom of the table.
• The hosts currently sit third from bottom with 12:44 points after five consecutive defeats and are just one point above the first relegation spot.
• Eisenach are still waiting for their first away win of the season and came agonizingly close in a draw in Kiel. After three consecutive draws, they most recently suffered a home defeat against Hannover. With 19:37 points, the Thuringian side are in 14th place, eight points clear of the relegation zone.
• Minden’s Ian Weber has scored 101 goals so far, while Felix Aellen has netted 148 times for Eisenach.
• The head-to-head record is perfectly balanced with eight wins each and one draw. Eisenach won the first meeting 33:28.

• Will SG Flensburg-Handewitt emerge as the big winner after the top match in Berlin? They currently sit second in the table with 45:11 points, one point ahead of Berlin and two ahead of Gummersbach. Flensburg have won four of their last five games, most recently 36:33 against Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
• MT Melsungen are back in the race for European spots, currently in seventh place with 34:22 points, just one point behind sixth-placed Lemgo. Like Flensburg, the team coached by Parrondo has won four of their last five matches, most recently beating Minden 32:28.
• Flensburg’s duo Emil Jakobsen (163 goals) and Marko Grgic (154) rank eighth and eleventh in the scoring charts, well ahead of MT’s top scorer Dainis Krištopāns, who has 115 goals.
• For captain Johannes Golla, this will be the last clash against his former and future club Melsungen while wearing a Flensburg jersey.
• Both teams will enter the European League quarterfinals next week: Flensburg face TSV Hannover-Burgdorf in an all-German matchup, while Melsungen take on FC Porto.
• Melsungen have only won two of their 41 matches against Flensburg (in 2015 and last season). Flensburg won the first meeting this season 35:32— their 33rd victory overall.

Saturday, April 25:

• Fifth place against last place – the roles ahead of this clash seem clearly defined, also when looking at the statistics: in 20 meetings against the Saxons, THW Kiel have won 17 times, Leipzig three times, most recently in October 2023. That same year also marked Leipzig’s only away win against the current league struggler.
• THW Kiel have lost three of their last six DAIKIN HBL matches but most recently secured a 34:27 win in the small northern derby in Hamburg. With 39:17 points, Kiel sit in fifth place, already 13 points behind league leaders SC Magdeburg.
• SC DHfK Leipzig have lost their last three matches after two consecutive draws, most recently the rescheduled game against Gummersbach (31:37). With 10:46 points, the team coached by Carstens are still only two points away from the first safe position above the relegation zone.
• Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu is Kiel’s top scorer with 152 goals, while Franz Semper has scored 123 times for Leipzig. With 235 saves, Andreas Wolff is the third-best goalkeeper in the DAIKIN HBL.
• Kiel have won the last four matches against Leipzig, including a 41:34 victory in the first leg. Overall, Kiel lead the head-to-head 17 wins to 3.

• The 11th-placed side visits the 13th – and while HC Erlangen are not yet safe from relegation danger, HSV Hamburg find themselves in mid-table.
• Erlangen lost 31:35 at league leaders Magdeburg despite a strong performance and sit on 19:37 points, eight points clear of the relegation zone.
• Hamburg fell 27:34 to Kiel on the last matchday and currently have 23:33 points.
• Hamburg’s Danish player Nicolaj Jørgensen is the fifth-best scorer in the league with 173 goals, while Erlangen’s Icelandic star Viggó Kristjánsson has scored 137 times so far.
• The 34–26 result in the first leg marked HSVH’s third consecutive win over Erlangen. Overall, the head-to-head stands at 7:4 for Hamburg, with no draws ever recorded between the two clubs.

Sunday, April 26:

• The second key relegation battle of matchday 29: Bergischer HC travel to Wetzlar with momentum from the Lidl Final4. In Cologne, Markus Pütz and Arnor Gunnarsson’s team defeated top favourites SC Magdeburg in the semi-final and pushed Füchse Berlin all the way in the final.
• HSG Wetzlar are second from bottom with 11:45 points, sitting two places and four points behind BHC, who are 15th with 15:41 points.
• Both teams recently drew against TVB Stuttgart, while Wetzlar went on to lose 24:32 at VfL Gummersbach.
• BHC’s top scorer Noah Beyer (155 league goals) was a standout at the Lidl Final4, converting the decisive penalty against Magdeburg. Philipp Ahouansou has scored 135 goals for Wetzlar.
• BHC have won five of the last six meetings with Wetzlar, including a 35:28 win in the first leg in October – their first win of the season as a promoted side. The overall head-to-head (13:12 for BHC) and home record (7:6 for Wetzlar) are almost evenly balanced.

• TSV Hannover-Burgdorf are in the quarter-finals of the European League and ended their run of four consecutive league defeats with a 35–26 win in Eisenach. Sitting in 10th place, the Recken have 24:32 points.
• TBV Lemgo Lippe finished the Lidl Final4 in third place, after a semi-final defeat against Füchse Berlin and a win over SC Magdeburg in the third-place match.
• In the league, however, things have not gone as smoothly for Florian Kehrmann’s team, who are now winless in five games (four defeats, one draw) and most recently lost again in the DAIKIN HBL, just like in Cologne, against Füchse Berlin (33–34). With 35:21 points, TBV sit sixth, just one point ahead of MT Melsungen.
• The top scorers of both teams are close together in the DAIKIN HBL rankings: Norwegian August Pedersen has scored 170 goals for Hannover-Burgdorf, while Dutchman Niels Versteijnen has 168 for Lemgo.
• The Recken have not only won the first leg (30:29), but also the last three matches against TBV, and lead the overall head-to-head record 16:10.

• Will the “draw specialists” from Swabia strike again against the league leaders? TVB Stuttgart are unbeaten in seven games, with two wins and five draws – including four straight draws against Leipzig, Lemgo, Wetzlar, and BHC. With 22:34 points, Stuttgart have pulled clear of the relegation zone in 12th place.
• SC Magdeburg experienced two setbacks at the Lidl Final4, losing both matches as favourites against Bergischer HC and TBV Lemgo Lippe.
• However, in the DAIKIN HBL, SCM remain the dominant force with 52:4 points and a seven-point lead at the top. Magdeburg have won their last seven league matches, including victories over Füchse Berlin and most recently Erlangen.
• In Stuttgart, the second-best goalkeeper in the league (Sergey Hernandez, 268 saves) meets the second- and third-best scorers: Kai Häfner (TVB) with 224 goals and Omar Ingi Magnusson with 202.
• The 30:29 win in Magdeburg in October 2020 remains Stuttgart’s only victory in 21 matches against SCM, who won the first leg this season 32:23.