Matchday 17: Great crowd in Cologne, Prokop returns to Leipzig

Thursday, 26th December:

• Both teams won their penultimate games in 2024 on the last matchday: Rhein-Neckar Löwen 28:25 in Stuttgart, HSG Wetzlar 32:29 against Gummersbach - and both teams have won two of their last three games.
• With 18:12 points, Löwen are in seventh place, Wetzlar are 13th in the table with 12:20 points.
• Shortly before Christmas, the hosts announced Maik Machulla as the new head coach from next season on, succeeding on Sebastian Hinze.
• The best scorers on both teams are two newcomers: Ivan Martinovic with 115 goals for the Löwen and Dominik Mappes, who scored 76 times for Wetzlar.
• Wetzlar won the last duel against the Lions in April 30:27, before that there were three victories for the Baden team, who are clearly ahead in the overall record with 30:8 wins. In 20 away games in Mannheim there were two HSG victories and 17 wins for the Baden team.

• Eisenach's away game on the last match day in Magdeburg was canceled, before that the Thuringians had lost 25:29 to Stuttgart and are currently in eleventh place with 14:16 points.
• In Johannes Bitter's farewell game in front of 11,650 fans Handball Sport Verein Hamburg celebrated a 32:32 draw against Flensburg - in the last five HBL games the HSVH achieved three wins, one draw and only lost once.
• With an equal points account (16:16) Hamburg are tenth in the table.
• Eisenach's Marko Grgic has 117 goals in the statistics, making him the second best HBL scorer, while Frederik Bo Andersen scored 78 goals for HSVH.
• Eisenach has been waiting for its second ever win against HSVH since March 2003 - since then Hamburg has won all six duels.

• After four defeats in a row, TBV Lemgo Lippe celebrated another win on the last match day – a 28:19 in Erlangen. Florian Kehrmann's team is now in ninth place with 16:14 points.
• The 38:29 against Bietigheim was the sixth league win in a row for THW, who also qualified for the Lidl Final4 2025 in the DHB Cup, where they will face Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the semi-finals. The Zebras are now third in the table, level on points with Berlin and Hannover-Burgdorf (24:8 points).
• At THW, veterans Hendrik Pekeler (until 2027) and Domagoj Duvnjak (until 2026) have extended their contracts.
• After another outstanding game against Bietigheim, Andreas Wolff is still the best goalkeeper in the DAIKIN HBL with 165 saves.
• The best scorers for both teams are Samuel Zehnder (71 goals for Lemgo) and Emil Madsen, who scored 91 times for THW.
• Kiel have won ten of their last twelve games against Lemgo, TBV one (but in kiel). In a total of 80 HBL duels, the Zebras won 52 times, the TBV 21 times.

• For the “Christmas game,” VfL Gummersbach moves to Cologne’s LANXESS arena for the first time in over ten years – and is hoping for the biggest crowd of the season this DAIKIN HBL season.
• Gummersbach have recently lost three times in a row – after defeats against the top teams from Melsungen and Magdeburg, VfL lost 29:32 against Wetzlar and are now in eighth place with 16:14 points.
• After the 35:23 against Göppingen and the Recken defeat in Melsungen, Füchse are now second in the table, level on points with Kiel and Hannover (24:8), four points behind league leaders Melsungen. Berlin remained unbeaten in four of the last five games.
• With 122 goals, Mathias Gidsel leads the DAIKIN HBL goal scorers list and is also by far the best field goal scorer in the league. With 71 goals, Milos Vujovic is the best VfL goal scorer.
• The goalkeepers of both teams are almost on the same level in the DAIKIN HBL rankings: Dominik Kuzmanovic (Gummersbach) has saved 131 shots, one more than Berlin's Dejan Milosavljev, who was also voted Serbia's handball player of the year.
• Last season, VfL took a draw at home against Füchse, then lost 26:29 in the capital. Since 2017, the Füchse have been unbeaten against Gummersbach with six wins and the aforementioned draw, the last Gummersbach home win was exactly ten years ago to the day with the 27:26 on 26 December 2014. 19 Füchse wins are in the overall record compared to 16 VfL victories.

• The match between SC Magdeburg and HC Erlangen, which was to be played on Thursday, December 26, 2024 in the GETEC Arena Magdeburg, has been canceled. Click here for the announcement.

Friday, 27th December:

• The third-to-last team hosts the bottom team in the league - but TVB Stuttgart already has an eight-point lead over the still pointless promoted team from Potsdam.
• After three wins in a row, Stuttgart recently lost 25:28 to the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, Potsdam lost 26:35 to Leipzig on the last matchday.
• The two sides have never faced in the HBL before.

• After the duel with second-placed Füchse Berlin (23:35), FRISCH AUF! Göppingen now host the league leaders, who secured the “winter trophy” with a 31:23 win in the top game against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf and are four points ahead of their pursuers from Hanover, Berlin and Kiel.
• Göppingen had previously won against Wetzlar and Lemgo and are currently in 14th place in the HBL table with 10:22 points.
• Melsungen has won the last five league games and, thanks to its quarter-final victory against Flensburg, have also reached the Lidl Final4 for the second time in a row, where they will face second division team HBW Balingen-Weilstetten in the semi-final.
• With 77 goals, the Swede Ludvig Hallbäck is currently Göppingen's best scorer, Dainis Kristopans has scored 60 times for Melsungen.
• Melsungen have won the last four duels against Göppingen, with a total of 21 MT victories compared to 15 victories by FRISCH AUF!.

• With interim coach Anders Eggert, SG Flensburg-Handewitt are still unbeaten in the league - after winning the top game against the Füchse, the most recent result was 32:32 in Hamburg. With 22:10 points, SG are already six points behind league leaders Melsungen.
• SG BBM Bietigheim are waiting for a win for seven games - two draws against Hannover-Burgdorf and Erlangen are offset by five defeats, most recently a 29:38 in Kiel. With 8:24 points, the promoted team is currently in 15th place.
• Flensburg's Emil Jakobsen is currently the fifth-best scorer in the HBL with 110 goals, while Jonathan Fischer is Bietigheim's top scorer with 50 goals.
• SG have won all four previous games against Bietigheim.

• With the 35:26 against Eisenach, SC DHfK Leipzig ended their series of four defeats and are now in 12th place in the table with 14:18 points.
• After the defeats in Kiel and most recently the 23:31 in Melsungen, Recken have lost their interim lead in the table and are now fourth in the table, level on points with Kiel and Berlin, four points behind leaders Melsungen.
• Two German national players are the top scorers for both teams: Luca Witzke scored 72 times for Leipzig, Renars Uscins (Hannover-Burgdorf) is the third-best scorer in the HBL with 116 goals. Two other Recken are still in the top 15: Marius Steinhauser with 78 goals, Justus Fischer with 76.
• Recken coach Christian Prokop is traveling to his former club, which he coached from 2013 to 2017.
• In the last five games against Leipzig, Hanover are unbeaten with three wins and two draws, the last Leipzig win was in 2021, overall the record is even with 7:7 wins.