The Rhine-Neckar Lions have secured the Autumn Championship in the Handball Bundesliga after an impressive power demonstration against the former leader, Füchse Berlin. The defending champions declassified the team from the capital city in the “final” for the lead of the standings at the halftime of the season with 37:23 (18:9).
After their fourth consecutive victory in a row, the lions go into the second part of the season at 28:6 points with a score ahead of Berlin (27:7), which can also fall behind the SG Flensburg-Handewitt (25:7) on the last day of the first round.
In the shadow of the top game, record champion THW Kiel advanced into the upper third of the standings with 30:27 (16:15) against GWD Minden, at least for the time being.
In the lower regions, TuS N-Lübbecke came last in 22:25 (10:13) against TBV Lemgo for the third time in a row, while the guests from East Westphalia celebrated their second success in a row.
In Mannheim, the lions burned down fireworks of handball against Berlin. Without his suspended top goal scorer Petar Nenadic, Berlin was without a chance and could not blame his debacle on the performance of the referee team previously pressured by fox director Bob Hanning due to questionable criticism.
Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson, with ten goals, was the outstanding thrower of the hosts. In the foxes, seven-time goalscorer Fabian Wiede scored the most goals.