Friday, 26 April 18th:

SC DHfK Leipzig vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (19:00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• Leipzig have won three of their last four games and moved up to eighth place, but are already eleven points behind the last European Cup place.
• After the home defeat against SC Magdeburg, SG Flensburg-Handewitt are out of the title race and rank third, eight points behind league leaders Magdeburg.
• SG clearly won the first leg with 34:24, and a total of 13 wins in 16 games, but: Leipzig won the last two home games against the SG.
• Viggo Kristjansson (Leipzig/164) and Emil Jakobsen (Flensburg/152) are the teams' best scorers.
• With a 41:30 away win in the quarter-final first leg against Swedish side IK Sävehof, SG have opened the gates to the final tournament of the European League widely.

TSV Hannover-Burgdorf vs. FRISCH AUF! Göppingen (20:00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)  

• The warriors recently lost 23:28 in Lemgo and have only had one win in the last four games, which means that their gap between seventh place and fifth place is already six points.
• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen are at the top end of the relegation zone with 23:35 points, recently passed Wetzlar with a 32:27 win and are now in twelfth place.
• Göppingen won the reverse fixture 32:25, they are now leading the overall record with 14:13 victories, the last away win in Hanover was three years ago.

ThSV Eisenach vs. TBV Lemgo-Lippe (20:00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV) 

• With the two wins in the do-or-die games against Bergischer HC (30:27) and Stuttgart (33:28), Eisenach has made a decisive leap forward and is now fourth from last with 20:38 points. There was only one defeat for ThSV in the last five games.
• TBV Lemgo (23:35 points) can get rid of all relegation worries with a win. After three defeats in a row, TBV won 28:23 against Hannover on the last match day.
• With 14:14 points, Eisenach now have a balanced home record.
• In the first leg, Lemgo had a lot of trouble with the promoted team, winning 26:24. Overall, the TBV won 13 of the 17 duels, last losing in Eisenach in 2003.
• Eisenach's Swiss Manuel Zehnder was overtaken as the top of the HBL scorer list last matchday by Berlin's Mathias Gidsel and currently has 230 goals. Samuel Zehnder, who is not related to Manuel, is Lemgo's best shooter with 142 strikes.

Saturday, 27 April:

VfL Gummersbach vs. HSG Wetzlar (19:00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV) 

• Gummersbach's record in the last five games is four wins and a 33:33 draw against Hamburg.
• In sixth place, VfL are five points behind MT Melsungen, which are in fifth place and have already qualified for the European League as cup finalist).
• HSG Wetzlar is one of three teams with 23:35 points and is currently 13th in the table. The 30:27 against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen was the only success in the last six games for the HSG.
• In the first leg, Wetzlar managed a 33:31 win against VfL, it was the 16th win in the 45th duel; In the previous season, Gummersbach won both games, VfL has already won twelve times in Wetzlar.
• Two Ex-Yugoslavian players are the best scorers of both clubs: Slovenian Domen Nowak is sixth on the list of goalscorers with 167 goals, the Montenegrin scored 142 times for Gummersbach.

MT Melsungen vs. Füchse Berlin (20:30 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)   

• Can the MT again become a stumbling block for a title candidate? Melsungen gained home draws against Magdeburg and Flensburg and even an away win in Kiel.
• The cup finalists are currently in fifth place (38:20 points) and could catch up with fourth-placed THW Kiel with a win. In the last five games there were three wins, most recently at the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, one draw and one defeat.
• Füchse suffered two defeats at the REWE FINAL4 and had to settle for a 32:32 draw against Kiel in the league. Because Magdeburg won at the same time in Flensburg, the Foxes, who had been leading for months, slipped to second place.
• The first leg was a very clear affair for Berlin with a 37:31 win. Berlin won both games last season and Melsungen have won three times in the last ten duels, a total of nine times in 32 games.
• After his 13 goals in the draw against Kiel, Mathias Gidsel took the lead in the HBL top scorers list with 233 goals, while his Danish teammate Lasse Andersson is still four goals short of the 200 strikes mark. Elvar Örn Johnsson is best MT scorer in 20th place with 127 goals.
• In the European League, the Foxes drew 33:33 at home in the quarter-final first leg against Nantes on Tuesday.

Sunday, 28 April:

TVB Stuttgart vs. Handball Sport Verein Hamburg (15:00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV) 

• The 27:26 against the BHC was Stuttgart's only win in the last six games, most recently the TVB lost 28:33 in Eisenach.
• With 20:38 points, the hosts are level on points with Eisenach, five points ahead of the first relegation place.
• Hamburg, on the other hand, have been unbeaten in seven games and were recently draw kings against Kiel (28:28) and Gummersbach (33:33) after having previously achieved five victories.
• With these 12:2 points, Torsten Jansen's team worked its way up to ninth place (26:30).
• TVB won the first leg in Hamburg 36:31, it was only the fifth duel between both teams and TVB's second success.

Bergischer HC vs. HC Erlangen (16:30 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV) 

• The relegation duel par excellence on matchday 30. Both teams have parted ways with their coaches: Arnor Thor Gunnarsson replaced Jamal Naji at BHC until the end of the season - and celebrated a perfect debut with the 25:21 in Balingen - it was the first BHC win in four months.
• On Tuesday - and after the 26:30 home defeat against Leipzig - Erlangen replaced Hartmut Mayerhoffer with previous assistant coach Johannes Sellin.
• HCE only managed one win in the last eight games, the 28:23 against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, BHC had suffered twelve defeats in a row before the win in Balingen.
• Erlangen (19:39) currently have a four-point lead over the second-to-last team (15:43) - if Erlangen win, this could already be decisive in the relegation battle.
• The 28:27 in the first leg was the seventh HCE victory in 15 duels, the BHC won six times.

Photo: Kaesler