Matchday 33: Will Berlin clinch the title early?

Wednesday, 4 June:

• The Recken from Hannover-Burgdorf seem to have run out of steam, with the 32:34 defeat in Flensburg being their fourth in a row. Nevertheless, TSV had already secured sixth place and the European Cup participation, and cannot be caught by seventh-placed Gummersbach.
• Kiel extended their winning streak to six games with a lucky 38:37 victory over Hamburg and are now fourth in the table, four points behind Melsungen and three points ahead of Flensburg. THW had already qualified for the European League in April as cup winners.
• The top scorers of both teams are almost neck and neck: Renars Uscins (Recken) has 203 goals to his name, Emil Madsen (THW) is on 200.
• THW have won twelve of the last 13 matches against Hannover-Burgdorf (first leg 28:24), the only exception being a 36:33 defeat in the previous season. The Zebras lead 27:3 in terms of wins.

• Leipzig have secured their place in the league with 21:43 points, despite three consecutive defeats. On the last match day, they lost 31:32 to Gummersbach.
• On the other hand, everything is at stake for SG BBM Bietigheim – after missing out on match point in the relegation battle against Erlangen (23:29), Iker Romero's team is in second-last place with 15:49 points, but only one point behind Erlangen and Stuttgart. Previously, the SG had earned five points from four games. In the last game of the season, the SG will face SC Magdeburg.
• Leipzig have won all three previous games against Bietigheim, including a narrow 29:28 victory in the first leg.

• MT Melsungen can no longer win the championship or qualify for the Champions League on its own – they are two points behind league leaders Berlin and one point behind SC Magdeburg. After losing the top match in the capital, MT maintained its home aura with a 26:25 win over Eisenach, bringing its record to 16 wins in 16 games. The cup finalist will play their last game at relegated side at Potsdam.
• TBV are eighth in the table with 37:27 points, but were overtaken by Gummersbach after their 29:31 defeat against Magdeburg on the last match day.
• Melsungen have the best defence in the DAIKIN HBL with 854 goals conceded, while Lemgo is third in this ranking with 875 goals conceded.
• MT have won the last four games against Lemgo, with the first leg ending 29:20. Overall, the record is almost even with 17:15 wins in favour of MT.

• Eisenach have lost their last six league games, but the last three were very unfortunate away defeats, with a 25:26 loss in Melsungen, a 29:31 loss in Hamburg and a 32:33 loss in Magdeburg. The Thuringians are eleventh with 25:39 points and secured their place in the league early on.
• Three wins and 29 defeats are the current record of bottom-placed 1. VfL Potsdam, which are relegated to the 2nd HBL after one season. After their sensational success in Hanover, Emir Kurtagic's team recently lost 21:25 to Göppingen.
• Marko Grgic (Eisenach), the DAIKIN HBL's top scorer, is still 20 goals short of the 300-goal mark.
• ThSV won the first leg 31:26.

• SC Magdeburg celebrated their twelfth league victory in a row with a 31:29 win. They are currently in second place with 53:11 points, one point behind the Füchse and one point ahead of Melsungen, meaning that they still have the Champions League qualification in its own hands. SCM’s last game of the season will be played in Bietigheim.
• After a lucky draw against relegation candidates SG BBM Bietigheim, SG recently won 34:32 against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, moving ahead of the Recken in the table. Flensburg are fifth with 45:19 points, three points behind Kiel – but have already qualified for the next European Cup season as the winner of the European League.
• With 229 goals, Flensburg's Emil Jakobsen is currently the third-best scorer in the league, while Sergey Hernandez is currently the third-best DAIKIN HBL goalkeeper with 281 saves.
• SCM have won the last four league games against Flensburg (first leg 29:27), while SG's last away win at the GETEC Arena dates back to 2021. However, Flensburg lead the overall statistics with 34:27 wins.

Thursday, 5 June:

• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen are safe in 13th place with 21:43 points, while their neighbour from Stuttgart are still in the middle of the relegation battle in fourth-last place.
• With a 25:21 win at relegated side Potsdam, Göppingen secured their place in the league on the previous match day, while Stuttgart lost 20:35 at home to Füchse after a surprise 33:25 win at the Löwen. With 16:48 points, TVB are only one point ahead of the first relegation spot, currently held by Bietigheim.
• Stuttgart won the first leg 30:26 and are also unbeaten in their last five games against Göppingen, with three wins and two draws. Overall, FRISCH AUF! lead with 9:6 wins.

• If Füchse win against Gummersbach and Magdeburg lose against Flensburg, Berlin will be champions already on the penultimate matchday, even if Melsungen win their home game – because compared to MT, the Füchse have a significantly better goal difference of +198 compared to +109.
• Berlin have scored at least 34 goals in each of their last six games, most recently in a 35:20 win in Stuttgart, and are also unbeaten in 17 games. In 16 home games, there have been 15 wins and one draw. The Füchse will play their last game of the season at Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
• Gummersbach have won their last four games, with celebrating a 32:31 victory over Leipzig on matchday 32. Currently seventh in the table, VfL have 38:26 points.
• In their last nine games against Gummersbach, Füchse have celebrated eight wins and one draw. The first leg ended 29:22, with Berlin leading by overall 20:16 victories.

• HSG Wetzlar are not yet mathematically safe, but are four points ahead of second-to-last Bietigheim and have a 38-goal better goal difference. Thus, the 30:30 draw against Rhein-Neckar Löwen on the previous matchday may have been decisive.
• After three consecutive wins, HSVH recently suffered an unfortunate 37:38 defeat at THW Kiel and are currently in tenth place with 33:31 points.
• With a 31:26 win in the first leg, HSG celebrated one of its nine wins so far this season. Hamburg had previously won three times, with the overall score standing at 23:8 in favour of HSVH.