Thursday, 15 February:

FRISCH AUF! Göppingen vs ThSV Eisenach (19:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen have only won one point from the last three games, most recently Markus Baur's team lost 29:30 at HBW Balingen-Weilstetten. With 17:25 points, Göppingen are eleventh.
• Eisenach’s two wins at the end of 2023 against Erlangen and the Rhein-Neckar Löwen were followed by two defeats in 2024, most recently with 24:26 against VfL Gummersbach.
• With 13:29 points, the newcomer is still second to last, tied on points with Bergischer HC.
• Eisenach won the first leg 27:24, it was the second win in the eleventh duel with Göppingen, FRISCH AUF! Won six times.
• Tim Kneule will have his 500^th HBL match for Göppingen, making him the 17th player in HBL history to reach this mark.
• With 173 goals, Eisenach's Samuel Zehnder is still in lead of the HBL top scorers list.

HSG Wetzlar vs HBW Balingen-Weilstetten (19:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• After four wins in a row, HSG Wetzlar's streak was broken with the 25:30 in Stuttgart; With 19:23 points, HSG are currently eighth in the table.
• With the 30:29 over FRISCH AUF! Göppingen on the last matchday HBW Balingen-Weilstetten ended its series of 16 games without a win. Jens Bürkle's team got four points from the last four games.
• With 9:31 points, the newcomer is still bottom of the table, but has reduced the gap to penultimate Eisenach to four points.
• The Wetzlar team won the first leg in Balingen 30:27, it was the 16th win in the 28th duel with the Balingen team, which won ten games (most recently in 2021).
• Wetzlar's Slovenian Domen Novak is currently fifth best HBL scorer with 124 goals. Patrick Volz is the best HBW shooter with 72 strikes.

Friday, 16 February:

HC Erlangen vs Handball Sport Verein Hamburg (19:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• Hamburg have been waiting for their next win since 31:23 in the first leg on November 17th. Since then, there were two draws and five defeats, most recently the narrow 30:32 against Füchse Berlin.
• With 14:26 points, HSVH is in 15th place, only one point ahead of a relegation zone.
• HC Erlangen, recently lost 25:32 against SG Flensburg-Handewitt, are only one point (15:25) and one place ahead of Hamburg.
• In all seven previous duels of the two clubs so far there have only been home wins, Hamburg are just ahead with 4:3 victories.
• 140 of Hamburg's 595 goals were scored by last year's HBL top scorer Casper Mortensen, who is currently fourth in the scorer list.

MT Melsungen vs Bergischer HC (20:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• In the top game against league leaders SC Magdeburg on Sunday, MT Melsungen lost 24:39, meaning that they slipped to fifth place behind Kiel with 27:13 points.
• Bergischer HC have lost their last four league games, most recently a 25:29 defeat at THW Kiel; BHC is third from last with 13:27 points.
• In the first leg, the BHC was the first team to defeat Melsungen, who had not lost any points so far, with a 32:31 win after their best start to the season ever (14:0 points).
• The MT couldn't win against Bergischer HC in the previous season: BHC won its home game 28:27, in Melsungen it was 22:22. Overall, the balance is clearly in favor of MT with 16:3 victories.
• With 108 goals, Timo Kastening is the MT's best scorer, ahead of the currently injured Ivan Martinovic (95). At the BHC side, Mads Andersen (69) and Frederik Ladefoged (68) lead the list of scorers.

Saturday, 17 February:

Füchse Berlin vs TBV Lemgo Lippe (19:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• Füchse have not lost a league game since the 26:30 defeat at THW Kiel on November 19th; the balance since then: seven wins, one draw. With 36:4 points, the Berliners are tied at the top of the table with Magdeburg.
• The 33:25 on the last match day against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen was TBV Lemgo Lippe's first win since November 30th - after two draws and five defeats. With 17:25 points, TBV are currently tenth in the table.
• Füchse won the first leg in Lemgo 32:26 and have won 25 of the 36 league games against TBV. The TBV was successful nine times, most recently on the last match day of the previous season (35:32).
• The Danish Füchse duo Mathias Gidsel (153) and Lasse Andersson (141) can surpass the 300 goal mark together this weekend. Both are second and third in the HBL top scorers list. Lemgo’s best scorer is Manuel Zehnder with 109 goals.

Sunday, 18 February:

Rhein-Neckar Löwen vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (15:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• Rhein-Neckar Löwen have only achieved one point in the last five games and lost the last four games, most recently with 25:33 at TBV Lemgo Lippe. As a result, Sebastian Hinze's team slipped to ninth place with 18:22 points.
• Flensburg won 32:25 against Erlangen last weekend and are third (30:10 points), six points behind the top duo from Magdeburg and Berlin.
• SG won the first leg 33:25 and have now won 21:15 times in 38 HBL duels against the Lions. In the previous season, both teams won their home games. Before, the Baden team had not won a game against the North Germans since 2017.
• Last year, both teams faced each other in the semi-finals of the REWE Final4 in Cologne, with the Lions laying the foundation for their eventual cup victory with a 38:31 win. This year, Flensburg qualified again for the REWE Final4, where they will meet MT Melsungen, while the Lions were eliminated in the quarter-finals against SC Magdeburg.
• In the league, two Danes are the best throwers for both clubs: Emil Jakobsen scored 117 times for Flensburg, Niclas Kirkelökke 103 times for the Lions.
• With eleven goals in the win against Erlangen, SG line player Lukas Jörgensen was the most successful scorer on the last match day.
• Both teams are in the main round of the European League, which began on Tuesday.

TSV Hannover-Burgdorf vs SC Magdeburg (16:30 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• SC Magdeburg extended its streak to 17 unbeaten HBL games in a row by beating rivals MT Melsungen 39:24 and is still tied for first place with the Füchse.
• The warriors from Hanover are currently sixth with 21:19 points; Christian Prokop's team recently won 32:29 against their table neighbors VfL Gummersbach.
• Magdeburg narrowly prevailed 31:29 in the first leg after trailing at halftime; It was the 19th win in the 29th league duel with the warriors. In the previous season, however, TSV won their home game against SCM 34:31.
• Two Magdeburg players have already exceeded the 100 goals mark this season: Omar Ingi Magnusson has 120 goals on his tally, Felix Claar 111. The best Recken scorers are Marius Steinhauser (77) and U21 world champion Justus Fischer (76).
• U21 world champion and European Championship debutant Renars Uscins (Hannover-Burgdorf) is up against his former club.

THW Kiel vs TVB Stuttgart (16:30 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• As on the previous match day against Bergischer HC (29:25), THW Kiel will once again face a team against which they have a clean slate: the Zebras have won all 17 previous duels, including the reverse fixture in Stuttgart with 36:31.
• Due to the defeat in Magdeburg, Kiel are currently in fourth place, eight points behind the top duo (28:12 points).
• TVB Stuttgart are unbeaten in the last three games, most recently winning 30:25 against HSG Wetzlar, after a draw against Göppingen and a win against Rhein-Neckar Löwen. This means that the TVB has now improved to eleventh place with 16:26 points.
• The best scorers of both clubs are both left-handed: Kai Häfner netted 114 times for Stuttgart, Niklas Ekberg 90 times for Kiel.

Monday, 19 February:

VfL Gummersbach vs SC DHfK Leipzig (19:00 CET, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• While Gummersbach have already played three competitive games in 2024 (cup and two league games), this is the first appearance of the new year for the Leipzig team.
• Before the European Championship break, Leipzig had lost their last four games.
• Thanks to the hard-fought 26:24 win in Eisenach last weekend, VfL stabilized seventh place in the table (20:20 points); Leipzig are currently 13th in the table with one game less and 15:23 points.
• Gummersbach won the reverse fixture in Leipzig 35:32; The overall balance now includes five VfL wins and four SC DHfK victories.
• Icelanders are among the best goal scorers in both clubs: Ellidi Snaer Vidarsson has scored 68 times for Gummersbach, Viggo Kristjansson is the sixth best HBL scorer with 120 goals. In addition, the coaches of both teams are Icelanders: Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson (Gummersbach) and Runar Sigtryggsson (Leipzig), whose son Andri Runarsson has also been part of the squad since this season.

Thursday, 8 February:

HC Erlangen vs TBV Lemgo-Lippe (19:00 CET, live on Dyn)

• Both teams had only won one of their last five HBL games before the European Championship; Erlangen against Stuttgart, Lemgo against Eisenach.
• The hosts are currently 15th with 13:23 points, TBV have two plus points more in twelfth position.
• Lemgo narrowly won the reverse fixture 28:27, overall, TBV won eight times against, HCE won four times, three games ended in a draw.
• Lemgo's Swiss Samuel Zehnder is still one goal short of his 100th goal of the season.

 Füchse Berlin vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (20:30 CET, live on Dyn)

• Füchse are level on points with SC Magdeburg second in the table with 32:4 points, four points ahead of third-placed SG Flensburg-Handewitt.
• Both teams have won four of their last five HBL games, the only exceptions being games against Göppingen: Füchse tied, the Flensburg team lost at Frisch Auf.
• In the previous season, Füchse remained unbeaten against SG with a 37:33 home win and a 31:31 in Flensburg. Overall, the Berliners only won six of the 36 HBL duels against SG so far, lost 24 times and drew six times.
• Both teams have qualified for the REWE Final4 on 13/14. April in Cologne: Flensburg clearly won their quarter-final 37:25 against the Handball Sport Verein Hamburg, Füchse prevailed with 31:29 against VfL Gummersbach.
• In Mathias Gidsel (141 goals) and Lasse Andersson (125), Berlin currently have the HBL's second-best and fourth-best scorers in their squad. Gidsel was the EHF EURO top scorer with 54 goals and also an all-star team member. The best SG scorer is Emil Jakobsen in seventh place with 107 strikes.
• A total of seven Danes who won the silver medal at the EHF EURO, are in the squads of both teams: Emil Jakobsen, Mads Mensah, Johan Hansen, Lukas Jörgensen, Simon Pytlick (all Flensburg) as well as Hans Lindberg and Mathias Gidsel (both Berlin). There are also the Swedish European Championship third-placed Jim Gottfridsson (Flensburg) and Max Darj (Füchse).

Photo: Popova