Thursday, 4 April:

FRESH ON! Göppingen vs. Füchse Berlin (19.00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• The record of both teams in the last few weeks is exactly the opposite: While Füchse won four of the last five games, FRISCH AUF! lost! four of the last five games.
• On the last match day, Berlin beat Wetzlar with 32:30 and thus defended the top of the table from SC Magdeburg, Göppingen lost 29:32 against Rhein-Neckar Löwen and are now in 12th place with 21:33 points.
• In the dramatic first leg, both clubs split points at the 29:29 in Berlin; in 50 duels so far, the balance is almost even with 24:23 victories in favor of the Füchse. Last year FRISCH AUF! Won their home game 25:19.
• With 212 goals this season, world handball player Mathias Gidsel is the second best HBL scorer, two goals behind Samuel Zehnder (Eisenach). Marcel Schiller, Göppingen's best shooter, netted 148 times, including 73 penalties.
• Füchse qualified for the quarter-finals of the European League on Tuesday evening and are also in the semi-finals of the REWE Final4 against Magdeburg on April 13th.

Friday, 5 April:

VfL Gummersbach vs. HBW Balingen-Weilstetten (19.00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• Thanks to six wins in the last seven games, VfL Gummersbach are in sixth place with 30:22 points, within striking distance of the European Cup spots.
• VfL winger Milos Vujovic scored ten goals in the 34:31 on the last matchday in Erlangen, making him – together with Casper Mortensen – the best scorer in round 27.
• After six defeats in a row, the gap between HBW Balingen-Weilstetten and the first non-relegation place is five points; most recently, the bottom of the table side lost 17:25 to Leipzig.
• Gummersbach won the first leg 34:31, it was the 16th win in the 23rd duel and the fifth in a row.
• With 121 goals, Vujovic is also the best VfL shooter, while Croatian Filip Vistorop scored 85 times for Balingen.

TSV Hannover-Burgdorf vs. Handball Sport Verein Hamburg (20.00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• The warriors recently lost 28:31 in Flensburg and are seventh, level on points with sixth-placed Gummersbach, who passed them on the last matchday.
• HSVH are currently something like the team of the moment, leaving the relegation zone with four wins in the same number of games. Most recently there was a clear 29:22 against fifth-placed MT Melsungen. In ninth place, Hamburg is still eight points behind seventh-ranked side Hanover.
• Hamburg's best thrower Casper Mortensen also scored ten times on the last matchday and is third on the HBL top scorers list with a total of 183 goals this season.
• The 30:28 in the first leg was the Recken's third win in the 17th duel with Hamburg and the third in the last four games.

Sunday, 7 April:

Bergischer HC vs. ThSV Eisenach (19.00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• It's a game of fate for both sides, with the greater pressure on Bergischer HC, who have lost their last ten games since December 10th.
• The penultimate have 13:39 points on the account, two more than bottom-placed Balingen and three less than their next opponent, the third-to-last from Eisenach.
• Newly promoted side Eisenach scored their first points on the first matchday with a 31:30 win against the BHC; it was the fifth win against the Lions in the ninth duel. Eisenach won three of the last four games against the BHC.
• After 3:1 points in a row against Recken and Leipzig, the Thuringians lost, as expected, 25:35 against SCM Magdeburg.
• Even though the lead over second-placed Mathias Gidsel is now only two goals, Eisenach wing Samuel Zehnder is still first on the HBL top scorers list with 212 goals.

SC DHfK Leipzig vs. TBV Lemgo Lippe (16.30 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• Only two points separate eighth-placed Leipzig (23:27 points) from eleventh-placed Lemgo (21:33), who, however, have played two more games than the Saxons.
• TBV lost twice in a row against top teams by one goal each: the 25:26 against Melsungen was followed by the 27:28 against Kiel.
• After the home defeat against Eisenach, SC DHfK Leipzig won 25:17 against the second promoted team from Balingen.
• In the first leg, Leipzig celebrated a 28:22 away win after Lemgo had scored 3:1 points in the previous season, but SC DHfK had before won three times in a row and has a total of 8:4 victories in 15 duels.
• Leipzig's Viggo Kristjansson has scored 160 times so far, while Manuel Zehnder is the best scorer for Lemgo with 132 goals.

SC Magdeburg vs. TVB Stuttgart (16.30 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• A week before the semi-final against Füchse Berlin at the REWE Final4, SCM are aiming to stay close to the league leaders from the capital.
• With five wins in a row, Magdeburg is the most successful team in recent weeks, is in second place with 46:6 points, but has played one game less than the Füchse.
• Thanks to the 27:26 against Bergischer HC, Stuttgart (currently 14th) increased their lead over the first relegation spot to seven points.
• In his final season for TVB Stuttgart, goalkeeper Silvio Heinevetter will play his 620th HBL game against his former club from Magdeburg, for whom he played 135 Bundesliga games.
• The 31:25 in the first leg was Magdeburg's 16th Bundesliga win in the 17th duel against Stuttgart, who celebrated their only success with a 30:29 in Magdeburg in October 2020.
• Magdeburg's best shooter Omar Ingi Magnusson (169 goals) is 19 goals ahead of Kai Häfner, the TVB's most successful lscorer.

HSG Wetzlar vs. Rhein-Neckar Löwen (18.00 CEST, live on Dyn and worldwide on HBL TV)

• After just one win from eleven games, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen ended their black streak with a 33:29 against Göppingen on the last match day and are now tenth with 22:30 points.
• HSG Wetzlar also only had one win in the last seven games, most recently narrowly losing 30:32 at league leaders Füchse Berlin (the fourth defeat in a row) and are in 13th place, one point behind the Lions.
• The hosts have won 30 of the 39 HBL duels against HSG so far, most recently the first leg in November 26:21.

Photo: Anderson-Jensen