The HSG Blomberg-Lippe is the leader of the women’s handball Bundesliga before the top game against Bensheim/Auerbach. In the WDR interview, coach Steffen Birkner talks about title dreams, dealing with expectation pressure – and explains why he wants to keep his top scorer Nieke Kühne from too much attention.
WDR.de: Mr. Birkner, on Wednesday (7 p.m.) your team welcomes HSG Bensheim/Auerbach to the top game. What predominates with you, tension or anticipation?
Steffen Birkner: Both, that is the scales. I think both teams play a very, very good Bundesliga season, play an attractive, fast-paced-rich one Handball. There are two great squads that meet and that’s why I’m looking forward to the game.
But it is the case that there is of course tension because there is a Bundesliga game where it is about points, where we also want to keep our home nimbus after we have won a lot of games here.
Who do you see in the favorite role? The starting point is balanced on paper: Both teams have won all four league games.
I think it is a game at eye level and it would be measured to give you the role of favorites now. We are still early in the season. Nuances will decide.
The offensive of Bensheim/Auerbach stands out, the HSG has scored most goals and at least 33 goals in every game. How do you do that defensively?
First of all, we want to take the counter out well. I think you do it very, very, very well with a high effect.
Defending also begins at the front, we want to have a high effect in the attack that we do not invite you to counterattack. And then it is an enemy -oriented defending what we always adapt before every competition. We want to contain the circles of their top players.
How does the scouting process work to be able to identify specific tactical patterns? Are you well-positioned as a established handball Bundesliga club in this regard in terms of technical and personnel?
We work with handball II this year. This is another tool that gives us coaches the opportunity to overlook video and statistics to get more information about the opponent. Every Bundesliga club has that. And then my goalkeeper coach is responsible for preparing the goalkeepers for things.
But it is the case that the scouting and analysis department is called “Steffen Birkner”. Then watching a lot of video, analyzing a lot, thinking about taking things from recent years or from the last games. Near Bensheim with the change of coach (Ilka Flickinger has been the new head coach since summer, note d. Ed.) Then you also see clearly that things are now being done differently. You can already see their handwriting clearly. And that makes it just as interesting.
Is Bensheim/Auerbach the worst title competitor? Borussia Dortmund and the Thuringian HC, each traded high before the season.
It is still too early to say that. I already see BVB and THC, even if they are stumbling straight, as a clear favorite. With the means, with the qualities you have, these are the favorites. Behind it there are two or three teams like us, such as Bensheim/Auerbach, like maybe Oldenburg or Neckarsulm, who do it really well, who can always jump on such a train.
Because we play in the main round and then playoffs, a lot will be open. And for us it is important to get among the top four so that we can play the semi -finals for the German championship. That has to be the first step first.
So despite the lead and vice championship, you don’t spend the goal of “championship” in the previous year?
We are humble and also know that we are the HSG Blomberg-Lippe and we don’t have to make ourselves smaller than we are. But it’s like in football: money shoots and throws goals. Hard work can also switch off that. But maybe not over a whole season. That’s why other clubs are there for me.
Is the big hit this year? HSG trainer Steffen Birkner
We would like to go to the semi -finals for the German championship. We want to go to the final Four for the DHB Cup in Stuttgart. We want to reach the group phase of the European League. These are goals we have.
We have also spoken to Nieke Kühne, her top scorer so far. How important is the young international for her team currently, how do you see your rapid development?
Nike took a great development with us, is important at the front and back. You have to say that very clearly. But I think it was also important for Nike to have a lot of trust in last year, also to be able to make many mistakes.
But of course it is the case that Nike Kühne alone will not win games. Nieke is a great talent for German handball. But we do well to protect this talent too. And in the past there were often players who were hyped much too early. And that’s why I’m glad that Nike is down to earth. But we also do well to protect our talents we have.
What exactly do you mean by “protecting”? Regulate media appointments?
Exactly, I mean: that our talents, which can and must still develop, that they are not on every poster that they are not headliners for campaigns.
That does something with young people. I think that we all have to be careful, clubs that we don’t put on too much to them. Even if we know, of course, that faces and role models are also important for us in women’s sports.
Last season they lost the final for the German Championship and the DHB Cup final against HB Ludwigsburg, which is now insolvent and no longer part of the Bundesliga. At the start of the season 2025/26 there was defeat against the THC in the Supercup. That makes three lost finals in one season. Can you explain that, are there parallels in these defeats? Were the players too nervous?
At DHB Cup and championship, you have to say very clearly that we were not too nervous, but simply that the performance strengths were different. Against the league league Ludwigsburg, we pulled the shorter twice, but then, I think, I think, if you stick to the performance of the performance and the possibilities of both clubs.
Against the THC in such a supercup it was a completely different game. We had it at eye level and then we pulled the plug a bit ourselves. You can’t compare that. But even there we are a young team that has developed to play such games. And you have to make mistakes first so that you can then develop further. And for us are finals and such a super cup situation are new territory.
Finally, a question about last season: Ludwigsburg took over financially and had to register bankruptcy. Do you have a resentment on the college: inside? They became second in league and in the cup, so they could have hopes for the titles without Ludwigsburg.
No, that doesn’t annoy me. It is rather tragic for our athletes, tragic for the club and the players who concern it. I don’t have a resentment. Such an example only shows that the clubs and I count us to work solidly and only do what they can.
I just read what is in the press. I don’t know internals either. They had no money for this season. As it says, it must have been there last season. I say “Okay, then they still worked well last year, not this year”. I don’t show my finger on others and say “If they hadn’t been there, we would have been a German champion”. Maybe the final would have been against Dortmund and that would have been lost. So you can’t look back and back in the glass ball.
Our sources:
- WDR interview with Steffen Birkner, coach HSG Blomberg-Lippe
- Website of the handball Bundesliga
- HSG Blomberg-Lippe website
