DAIKIN-HBL: Second half of season starts with top match, twelve world champions and new coach

Saturday, 8 February:

• For the first time in the club's history, MT Melsungen has gone into the winter break as HBL leaders. With 30:4 points, Roberto Parrondo Garcia's team is four points ahead of their hunters from Kiel, Berlin and Hanover. Melsungen won the last six games before the break, including the first leg against Göppingen on December 27th, the last matchday in 2024, with 29:25.
• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen are in 14th place with 10:24 points and lost the last two games before the break after two wins in a row.
• At the World Championship, Melsungen's David Mandic (Croatia) and Alexandre Cavalcanti (Portugal) were injured, besides, Amine Darmoul and Arnar Freyr Arnarsson are out for the long term.
• Melsungen have won the last five games against Göppingen. FRISCH AUF! Took their last victory against MT in Melsungen, in 2022 it was a 26:24. Overall, the leaders have 22 wins and Göppingen 15 wins on their tally.

• THW Kiel has been waiting for a home win against SC Magdeburg in the DAIKIN HBL since 3 September 2017, and the 32:30 was followed by three home defeats and two draws. However, Kiel won the first leg in the GETEC Arena 29:24 and also narrowly won the cup quarter-final 29:28. In the all-time HBL record, the duel has taken place 66 times, Kiel won 38 times, Magdeburg 21 times, and seven games ended in a draw.
• Three world champions face each other in the top match: Magnus Landin (four-time World Championship gold medalist) and Emil Madsen for Kiel, Magnus Saugstrup for Magdeburg. They will be joined by Kiel's Croatian silver medalist Domagoj Duvnjak, who ended his national team career with the final in Oslo and has returned from the World Championships with an injury.
• Magdeburg playmaker Felix Claar is about to make his comeback - it would be his first appearance since the Olympic Games.
• With 97 goals, Madsen is currently the eighth best scorer in the HBL.
• Before the World Championship break, THW won the last seven games in a row, the last defeat was 33:37 in front of a home crowd against neighbors SG Flensburg-Handewitt. Before the two canceled games against Erlangen and Eisenach, SCM had four unbeaten games - three wins and a draw against Füchse Berlin.
• Kiel are currently third in the table with 26:8 points in 17 games, Magdeburg has only played 14 games and is seventh with 21:7 points.

• At the World Championship, the focus was on the goalkeepers of both teams: VfL goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanovic won silver with Croatia and was statistically the third best goalkeeper of the World Cup, while Stuttgart's Frenchman Samir Bellahcene received the bronze medal in absentia; he was injured after two preliminary round matches and had to leave.
• After four defeats in a row, Gummersbach slipped to tenth place before the winter break and has an even points account (16:16).
• Stuttgart's record at the end of the year was exactly the opposite: the Swabians won four of the last five games, improving to 15th place with 10:24 points.
• Once, in 2018, TVB managed an away win in Gummersbach, but VfL won the last three duels, including the 35:28 in Stuttgart in the first leg. In 13 duels, Gummersbach has won eight games and TVB has won four.

Sunday, 9 February:

• Ivan Martinovic is not only currently the best Löwen shooter in the HBL with 120 goals, but also won World Championship silver with Croatia and was named to the Allstar team. In the World Cup quarter-finals, he defeated Hamburg's Hungarian Zoran Ilic, among others.
• Frederik Bo Andersen (82 goals) and Leif Tessier (81) are currently the best HSVH shooters in the league.
• The Hamburg team has 16:18 points, is in eleventh place, four places behind the Löwen, who are in seventh place with 20:12 points.
• The Löwen won three of the last four games before the World Championship break, while the HSVH most recently lost 31:32 in Eisenach.
• On Tuesday, the Lions officially said goodbye to their club legend Uwe Gensheimer, who is in charge as their sporting director since the start of the season.
• The 30:27 in the first leg was the Lions' eleventh victory against HSVH in 29 duels so far, with the Hamburg team finishing as winners 17 times. In home games, the record is even clearer: the Lions have only won three times in Hamburg, but have already lost ten games.

• After a great start to the season, SG BBM Bietigheim has not been able to win the last 13 HBL games, with eleven defeats and two draws. With 8:26 points, Iker Romero's team is only one point ahead of the relegation places.
• With 12:22 points, HSG Wetzlar are currently 13th in the table. Two of the six wins were taken in away matches.
• HSG Wetzlar have only won one of five HBL games so far against Bietigheim, in 2018. SG BBM have achieved three victories, most recently in the first leg with a 26:21 win.

• TSV Hannover-Burgdorf are fourth in the table with 26:8 points, level on points with THW Kiel and Füchse Berlin, but among the last five games, Recken lost to leaders Melsungen and Kiel.
• As with the Melsungen vs. Göppingen duel, the first leg was the last game before the World Championship break - the Recken won 32:30 in Leipzig. It was one of four defeats for the Saxons in the last five games of 2024, who are currently in twelfth place with 14:20 points.
• Recken coach Christian Prokop faces his former club, which he coached until 2017 before becoming German national team coach.
• Renars Uscins was not only the best German scorer at the World Championship, but is also third in the HBL goal scorers list with 126 goals.
• During the World Championship break, Maximilian Gerbl left the Recken and returned to his homeland of Switzerland, while Viggo Kristjansson left Leipzig for Erlangen.
• In the last six duels against Leipzig, Recken are unbeaten with four wins and two draws. Leipzig won twice in Hanover, most recently in May 2017. Overall, however, the record is almost even, with eight TSV wins compared to seven wins by SC DHfK.

• Seven newly crowned world champions are in the SG Flensburg-Handewitt squad, including Mads Mensah Larsen, a four-time title winner, and Simon Pytlick, an All-Star team player. World champion Emil Jakobsen is the fourth-best scorer in the HBL with 120 goals.
• With 24:10 points, the SG are fifth in the table, but is already six points behind Melsungen. Erlangen is second to last with 5:27 points.
• HC Erlangen had a personnel shake-up during the World Championship break: Icelander Viggo Kristjansson arrived from Leipzig, but will be out for a few weeks due to an injury, and Serbian Milos Kos came from Zagreb. The contracts of Jonathan Svensson and pivot Stefan Bauer were terminated.
• Meanwhile, new coach Ales Pajovic will make his debut on the bench at SG Flensburg-Handewitt - as the successor to Nikolej Krickau, who was dismissed in December. The Slovenian will continue to coach the Austrian national team, which he took over in 2019, in a dual role until May.
• The Flensburg team has an almost spotless record against Erlangen: 16 SG wins are offset by two draws, most recently in September 2021. The SG won the first leg clearly with 42:28, the only home point so far was secured by Erlangen in 2015.

• Two world champions including MVP and top scorer of the World Championship are on the court in the derby - Mathias Gidsel, who scored 74 World Cup goals, and Lasse Andersson each celebrated their third World Cup title. In the final they faced Potsdam Croatian Josip Simic.
• With 131 goals, Gidsel is currently the best HBL scorer, his teammates Tim Freihöfer (110) and Lasse Andersson (97) follow in sixth and seventh place.
• The roles are clearly marked: Füchse are second in the table with 26:8 points, promoted Potsdam is still waiting for their first point after 15 games.
• The first leg between the two former cooperation partners at the beginning of December was a one-sided affair: the Füchse won 36:26 in Potsdam.

Monday, 10 February:

• With three wins from the last five games before the World Championship break, ThSV Eisenach catapulted itself to eighth place, currently level on points with tenth-placed Lemgo with 16:16 points.
• With 126 goals, Eisenach's German national player Marko Grgic is currently the second best HBL scorer, the most successful TBV scorer is Niels Versteijnen with 76 goals.
• TBV won the first leg at home 31:28. Since 2003, the TBV has been unbeaten against the Thuringians with eight wins and one draw. In a total of 21 duels, Eisenach only won twice, Lemgo 15 times.