Matchday 34: Championship race and relegation battle: Both decisions will be taken on the last match day

Sunday, 8 June:

• SG BBM Bietigheim have put in a spectacular final spurt – with victories against Stuttgart and most recently 34:25 in Leipzig, as well as a draw against Flensburg. Iker Romero's team has picked up five points in the last four games.
• With 17:49 points, SG are one point ahead of the duo from Stuttgart and Erlangen, but have a goal difference that is 35 goals worse than HCE and is three goals ahead of TVB.
• SC Magdeburg have booked their Champions League ticket for next season thanks to Melsungen's draw against Lemgo and their own 35:27 win against Flensburg. The second-placed team is one point behind the Füchse Berlin with 55:11, but the latter has a 55-goal better goal difference.
• Including the 35:26 win in the first leg, SCM has won all five previous matches against Bietigheim.

• For the 55th time, the HBL will see a duel between the former champions from Lemgo and Göppingen. With 26:22 wins, TBV are narrowly ahead in the overall standings, but FRISCH AUF! won the first leg 29:22.
• Both teams scored points on the 33rd match day – Lemgo managed a 26:26 draw against Melsungen, while Göppingen won 28:27 against Stuttgart thanks to a goal from Josip Sarac at the final buzzer.
• With 38:28 points, TBV are currently eighth in the table, but can still overtake VfL Gummersbach, which have the same number of points, on the last match day. With 23:43 points, Göppingen are twelfth.

• The small northern derby is primarily about honour and the fact that Flensburg want to defend their fifth place against the Recken from Hanover (one point behind). However, the SG have only won one of its last four games, most recently losing 27:35 in Magdeburg.
• HSVH are currently in tenth place with 35:31 points, but can still pass Rhein-Neckar Löwen in ninth place. On Thursday, Hamburg won 33:29 against Wetzlar.
• The first leg ended in a 32:32 draw, with Flensburg having 17 derby wins to Hamburg's eleven in the overall statistics.

• In Wetzlar, all eyes will also be on the live tickers from Stuttgart and Bietigheim, as these matches are just as crucial for HC Erlangen as their own performance in Central Hesse.
• Erlangen did not play on match day 33 and had to watch as Bietigheim won in Leipzig and Stuttgart lost 27:28 in Göppingen in extremely unfortunate circumstances. Thanks to a 38-goal better goal difference, HCE are ahead of Stuttgart (both on 16:50 points) before the last match day and one point behind Bieitgheim, which faces the toughest task of this trio against Magdeburg.
• HSG Wetzlar lost 29:33 in Hamburg on Thursday, but with the draw against Rhein-Neckar Löwen on the 32nd match day, HSG had secured its place in the league, three points ahead of Stuttgart and Erlangen. Nevertheless, HSG is still waiting for their first win under new coach Momir Ilic.
• A good omen for Erlangen could be that the last four games against Wetzlar have all been away wins, including the 25:22 victory in the first leg. In the overall statistics, HSG lead with 9:7 wins.

• Will the Füchse pull off their masterpiece? A draw against Rhein-Neckar Löwen would be enough to secure the club's first championship title in its history, given its significantly better goal difference compared to SC Magdeburg.
• With Thursday's 45:35 win against VfL Gummersbach, the Füchse extended their winning streak to 18 unbeaten games, winning their last eight matches since the draw in Erlangen at the beginning of April. With 1159 goals, the Berliners have by far the best attack in the league, scoring 40 or more goals in four of their last ten games.
• However, the Füchse have unpleasant memories of their last appearance at the SAP Arena, where they suffered a 29:30 defeat in the round of 16 of the DHB Cup in November. In the league, however, Berlin have won their last eight games against the Lions, with the first leg ending 34:27.
• With 265 goals to his name, world handball player Mathias Gidsel is the second-best scorer in the league behind Marko Grgic (292).
• The Lions have not won their last three games, most recently drawing 30:30 against Wetzlar and previously losing to Stuttgart and Gummersbach. With 36:30 points, the Baden team is currently ninth, but could still be overtaken by Hamburg.
• In Mannheim, the Lions will bid farewell to Juri Knorr (to Aalborg) and coach Sebastian Hinze (to Eisenach).

• Gummersbach and Recken are neighbours in the table, in seventh and sixth place respectively, but Hannover-Burgdorf have an eight-point lead over VfL.
• Recken have qualified for the European League and ended their losing streak with a 29:29 draw against Kiel.
• Gummersbach, on the other hand, suffered a 35:45 defeat at the hands of the league leaders from Berlin on Thursday.
• VfL won the first leg 32:28, Recken were previously unbeaten in eight direct encounters, with seven wins and one draw, leading the overall statistics with 13:7 wins.

• Will Leipzig tip the scales in the relegation battle? The Saxons won against Erlangen, but most recently lost 25:34 at home to Bietigheim.
• On Thursday, TVB seemed to have another point in the bag in Göppingen, but then conceded the goal to make it 27:28. This means they are level on points (16:50) with HCE Erlangen. Even with a win, TVB are not automatically safe, as Erlangen has a 38-goal better goal difference.
• Leipzig have only managed three wins in their last 15 games, but secured their place in the league with its victory against Erlangen. With 21:45 points, SC DHfK are currently in 13th place.
• Leipzig won the last three games against TVB, including 33:24 in the first leg. Overall, the score is 10:7 for the Saxons.

• Potsdam want to end the league season on a high note, while Melsungen will finish third, the best result in the club's history.
• MT missed their last mathematical chance of a Champions League spot with a 26:26 draw against Lemgo, but remained unbeaten at home.
• Melsungen's 31:23 win in the first leg was the first duel between the two teams, Potsdam most recently losing 19:37 in Eisenach.

• The last handball match for THW legend Patrick Wiencek and the farewell of Mischa Kaufmann as coach of Eisenach – even if there is not much at stake in purely sporting terms, it will be an emotional affair.
• Cup winners THW Kiel will finish the season in fourth place and will also play in the European League next season, while Eisenach (27:39 points) can no longer be displaced from eleventh place in the table.
• Much more important for the Thuringians: will Marko Grgic celebrate his 300th goal of the season? The newly crowned ‘best young player of the season’ currently has 292 goals, which is 8.8 per game. This means that Grgic has scored around 29 per cent of all 1,012 goals scored by Eisenach this season. He has contributed ten or more goals in a game 15 times this season.
• Kiel's top scorer Emil Madsen has 209 goals to his name, 83 fewer than Grgic.
• Eisenach has been waiting for a win against the Zebras for over 24 years, with the latter winning the last 14 encounters, including the 37:33 victory in the first leg.