Matchday 26: Easter top game week for the Foxes: first Zebras, then Recken

Wednesday, 16 April:

• Newly crowned cup winners against league leaders - just three days after the 28:23 win in the final of the Lidl Final4, THW Kiel can stalk closer to the top of the table.
• Kiel are fourth in the table with 36:14 points, four points behind the league leaders from Berlin. After the defeats in Melsungen and Flensburg, THW cannot afford another slip-up.
• The 35:26 win in the first leg was the clearest victory of all time for the Foxes against the Zebras. Overall, the score is 33:8 in favour of THW, who have also only lost one of 22 home games against Berlin, 27:31 in March 2022.
• The Foxes are unbeaten in ten league games (eight wins, two draws), with the capital club's last defeat coming in Flensburg on 16 December (37:38). Most recently, however, the Berliners almost stumbled in a 31:31 draw in Erlangen.
• With 850 goals, the Foxes have the best attack in the league and have scored 96 more goals than Kiel in 25 games.
• The league's second-best scorer, Mathias Gidsel (191 goals for the Füchse), will face the best goalkeeper, Kiel's Andreas Wolf (246 saves), who was awarded as the best player at the Lidl Final4.

• The record is clear: SC Magdeburg have won 18 out of 19 duels against TVB Stuttgart, who celebrated their only victory in Magdeburg in 2020.
• The match is a catch-up game from the 24th matchday, after which SCM still has two more catch-up games to play.
• SCM have won six of their last seven games, losing only in Berlin. With 33:11 points, the champions are currently sixth, but only one minus point behind the top duo.
• Stuttgart travel to Magdeburg with the confidence of two wins in their last two games (against Eisenach and in Wetzlar). With 14:34 points, TVB are currently 15th and five points clear of the relegation zone.

Thursday, 17 April:

• SC DHfK Leipzig have only won one of their last nine games, including five defeats in a row for the Saxons, who are currently 13th in the table with 17:33 points.
• Flensburg have also picked up just one point from their last two games (draw against Eisenach, defeat in Lemgo). The fifth-placed side is already six points behind the leading duo Berlin/Melsungen.
• SG has won their last four games against Leipzig, including the 35:29 victory in the first leg. In 18 matches so far, Flensburg have won 15 and SC DHfK three - all of them at home.
• Emil Jakobsen is SG's top scorer with 172 goals, while Luca Witzke has scored 130 times for Leipzig so far and is top of the DAIKIN HBL assist statistics with 103.

• TBV Lemgo Lippe continued their high-flying run last matchday with a 32:23 win over Potsdam. Florian Kehrmann's team has won six of their last eight games, drawn one and only lost at Rhein-Neckar Löwen. With 29:21 points, the TBV have climbed to eighth place.
• Handball Sport Verein Hamburg is in tenth place, four points behind Lemgo, but also recently won against Potsdam and previously caused a major surprise with a 42:32 win against second-placed MT Melsungen.
• Hamburg are unbeaten in its last three matches against Lemgo, with two wins (including the 30:26 in the reverse fixture) and one draw. The Hanseatic team is also ahead overall with 18:9 wins.
• With 205 saves, Constantin Möstl (TBV) is one of the eight best goalkeepers in the DAIKIN HBL.

• ThSV Eisenach and HC Erlangen have only met three times so far in the first division, with the Thuringians winning the last two games and the club from Franconia losing the first leg at home by 24:28.
• With 9:41 points, the HCE are now just one point behind third-bottom Bietigheim. After beating bottom-placed Potsdam and drawing with the Füchse, they recently suffered a clear 19:30 defeat against Magdeburg.
• After three defeats in a row, Eisenach drew 39:39 in Flensburg. ThSV are currently eleventh with 22:26 points and one game less.
• The twelve goals in Flensburg were the twelfth double-digit haul for DAIKIN HBL top scorer Marko Grgic. With 211 goals in the season, he is already 20 goals ahead of second-placed Mathias Gidsel.

• The 27:25 sensational win against THW Kiel was followed by five defeats for HSG Wetzlar (most recently against TVB Stuttgart) and only one victory against Göppingen. However, with 18:32 points, the team in twelfth place in the table has a large cushion on the relegation places - 16 points ahead of bottom-placed Potsdam and nine ahead of penultimate-placed Erlangen.
• The 28:25 win against Stuttgart, the first and so far only victory in the history of the first division, was followed by four further defeats for 1. VfL Potsdam.
• The first leg, which HSG won 26:18, was the first ever encounter between the two clubs.

Easter Saturday, 19 April:

• Since 23 September 2015, FRISCH AUF! Göppingen have not won any point against THW Kiel in the league, losing all 18 following duels. In total, the Swabians have won eleven games against 56 victories for the Zebras - the game at Easter is the 70th encounter in the HBL.
• Göppingen recently caught the eye with a 36:30 away win at previous league leaders Hannover-Burgdorf, their second victory in a row after the 29:27 win against Leipzig. With 17:33 points, Göppingen are currently 14th in the table.
• Göppingen's top scorer, Ludvig Hallbäck (127 goals), suffered a serious elbow injury during the win in Hanover, which required surgery; he will be out until the end of the season.

• MT are equal second in the table with the Foxes (40:10 points), while Gummersbach is ninth with 28:20 points.
• The two sides are facing for the fourth time this season: MT won the first leg of the DAIKIN HBL 29:24 and was also the overall winner in the European League play-offs: After losing the first leg 26:29, Melsungen advanced to the quarter-finals with a 29:25 victory in the second leg.
• MT had a week to recover from the energy-sapping Lidl Final4; Roberto Garcia Parrondo's team lost the final 23:28 to Kiel in Cologne.
• In the league, Gummersbach's run of four wins came to an end with a 25:31 loss to THW Kiel, while Melsungen have won three of their last four HBL games.
• Nebojsa Simic (Melsungen/231 saves) and Dominik Kuzmanovic (Gummersbach/211) are the second and fifth best goalkeepers in the league.

• The match against the cup semi-finalists is the third home game in a row for SC Magdeburg - and it is the clash between the cup winners of 2023 and 2024.
• SCM are unbeaten in the last eight games against the Lions (seven wins, one draw), but the club from Baden had won six consecutive duels before that, including four in the Getec Arena. The champions won the first leg 36:25 in Mannheim, while the overall record is 24:13 wins in favour of the Lions.
• The Lions not only lost both games at the Lidl Final4 in Cologne against Balingen and Kiel, but also top scorer Ivan Martinovic with an injury to his patellar tendon - the Croatian is set to miss several weeks.
• Before the Lidl Final4, the Lions had celebrated two wins in a row against Lemgo and Eisenach and are currently seventh in the DAIKIN HBL table with 29:19 points.
• David Späth (Lions/213 saves) and Sergej Hernandez (Magdeburg/197) are among the top 10 DAIKIN HBL goalkeepers.

Easter Sunday, 20 April:

• The Foxes opened the DAIKIN HBL Easter week with their game against THW Kiel and will close it with their clash against the Recken.
• The surprising 30:36 home defeat against Göppingen meant that Hannover-Burgdorf had to relinquish the top spot in the table and are now third with 39:11 points.
• Germany's Handball Player of the Year Renars Uscins is up against the World Handball Player of the Year Mathias Gidsel - both are also among the top five scorers in the DAIKIN HBL.
• With the 38:35 victory in the first leg, Recken ended their negative streak against the Foxes after eight games without a win (six defeats, two draws).