2. Handball Bundesliga with Dormagen more balanced than ever

2. Handball Bundesliga
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Competition is more balanced than ever

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Croatian national team player Igor Vori has taken over the leadership of TV Großwallstadt.
Photo: dpa, awa jai

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Dormagen After the Dormagen handball team’s season opener against Zaporozhye on Wednesday, the first full day of play is scheduled for the weekend. Everything seems to be possible behind the first division relegations Lübbecke and Balingen.

If you take the first round of the DHB Cup played last weekend as your reference point, four second division handball teams should have serious concerns about staying in the league: the Würzburg Wolves, formerly known as DJK Rimpar Wolves (24:25 at TuS Fürstenfeldbruck) and VfL Eintracht Hagen (26:28 at TuS Vinnhorst) lost to third division teams, TuSEM Essen lost to newly promoted VfL Potsdam (27:32) and TSV Bayer Dormagen had no chance against the competitor of championship HC Elbflorenz Dresden (21: 31). .

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But first of all (but five euros in the phrase pig) it is known that cup matches have their own laws. And secondly, a forecast on the course of the league season starting this week looks as bold as a forecast on the evolution of gas prices in the coming years. The participation of Ukrainian visiting team HC Motor Zaporozhye, who surprisingly lost 28:33 to TSV Bayer Dormagen on Wednesday at the start of the season as part of the Düsseldorf Super Cup, could cause further imponderables, as well as the question of what effects any worsening of crown rules on the game and on the functioning of the spectators will have.

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The fact is: at the end of the season – the season lasts until 7 June with a break between 26 December and 28 January 2023 – the two first-placed teams are promoted to the Bundesliga, while the teams in 17, 18 and 19 places are relegated to third division. Whoever will be looking completely open, the championship looks even more balanced than last season, when TSV Bayer Dormagen in 16th place was separated by only ten points from SG Bietigheim in sixth place. Of course, the two first division relegations are considered favorites for the (re) ascent, especially as TuS N-Lübbecke and HBW Balingen-Weilstetten have been spared from great bloodletting.

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Tim Mast is now chasing goals for TuSEM Essen.
*Photo: Heinz J. Fencebreaker*

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With the signing of goalkeeper Nikolas Katsigiannis from Rhein-Neckar Löwen, East Westphalia, with former international Michael Haass of Erlangen as the new man on the bench, he made one of the few spectacular transfers in the league, which otherwise only lost a few well-known names : national team player Hendrik Wagner left Eulen Ludwigshafen for HSG Wetzlar, Nils Versteijnen left VfL Lübeck-Schwartau for TBV Lemgo, Dominik Mappes (TV Hüttenberg) and Tom Jansen (TV Großwallstadt) moved to VfL promoted to first Gummersbach division, Savvas Savvas (TV Großwallstadt) has been signed by the other newcomer, ASV Hamm, Noah Beyer, scorer on duty at TuSEM Essen, followed by coach Jamal Naji at Bergisches HC, Robert Weber (HSG Nordhorn-Lingen) will be on the hunt for future Olympiakos Piraeus goals, workhorses such as Stefan Kneer (Hüttenberg), Pavel Mickal (Nordhorn), Markus Hansen and Jan Schult (both VfL Lübeck-Schwartau) have c including their long career. From the “strongest league in the world” to the lower house, former Dormagener Fredrik Genz (Füchse Berlin) as the new goalkeeper of SG Bietigheim, Alexander Feld from Wetzlar to Nordhorn and Felix Danner from Wetzlar to Balingen.

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VfL Lübeck-Schwartau recorded the biggest fluctuation in the squad, where new head coach David Röhrig, originally from Dormagen, has to integrate ten new arrivals, including former Dormagener Lennart Leitz and Mathis Blum (via Rhein-Neckar Löwen middle station II) and Neusser HV goalkeeper Paul Dreyer. There are eight arrivals and eight departures at HSC Coburg. TSV Bayer Dormagen has the lowest turnover, with Ole Klimpke on loan from Wetzlar having only one outside purchase.

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Lennart Leitz plays for VfL Luebeck-Schwartau.
*Photo: Heinz J. Fencebreaker*

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But let’s go back to the – alleged – favorites of the promotion. Last season showed that those who were relegated to the first division must first get used to a floor below, when HSC Coburg and Eulen Ludwigshafen struggled to stay in the league to the end, despite the change of manager (even two for Eulen ). . But both Balingen and especially Lübbecke seem to be of different caliber. SG Bietigheim could challenge them for promotion, at least if Iker Romero, in his second year as manager, manages to get his men out of the habit of retiring against seemingly weaker teams. ThSV Eisenach, who missed the promotion by just two points last season, and Dormagen cup winner HC Elbflorenz Dresden are sort of secret favorites. A role that HSG Nordhorn-Lingen should get rid of at the latest after the cup defeat at 20:22 against HCE Rostock. And at last year’s fourth edition, TV Hüttenberg, it remains to be seen how he will cope with the departures of his veterans Dominik Mappes (at Gummersbach, from there Timm Schneider returned), Stefan Kneer and Christian Rompf (both at the end of their careers).

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A surprise team could join this septet. For example, the promoted VfL Potsdam, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz occasionally sits in the stands and Bob Hanning always sits on the coaches bench – the undisputed 32:27 cup win over TuSEM Essen has already provided a taste.

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For the majestic rest, it should be primarily about collecting as many points as possible (and necessary) as quickly as possible to stay in the league. Obviously, the most at risk seem to be the ones who were the last to save themselves last season: TV Großwallstadt (without Savvas Savvas and Tom Jansen, but with Croatian national and world champion Igor Vori on the bench), last year’s climbers HC Empor Rostock, who managed to stop the free fall only in the second half of the season, on the penultimate day, and TSV Bayer Dormagen, who, on the contrary, moved up to fourth place in the second half of the standings. In addition to the promoted HSG Konstanz, the Wolves Würzburg, who had to surrender their life insurance between the goal posts to Marino Mallwitz’s HC Elbflorenz, and TuSEM Essen, also appear to be in grave danger. The “veteran” has lost five top performers and has former Dormagen Tim Mast as the only addition with second division experience – a lot of work for Michael Hegemann, who has been promoted from assistant to head coach. But perhaps (or rather most likely) everything will turn out very differently.

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