AUDIO: THW Kiel loses at home against VfL Gummersbach (1 min)
Handball Bundesliga
As of: February 28, 2026 10:03 p.m
The THW Kiel handball players suffered another setback in the fight for the Champions League places – and what a setback: the “Zebras” lost at home against VfL Gummersbach with 26:34 (15:14).
The Schleswig-Holsteiners announced the only positive news of the evening before the game. Club icon Rune Dahmke has extended his contract early until 2028. A message from the 32-year-old flickered over the video cube in the arena: “Dear Zebra fans, I was always there and I’m still staying.” There was great cheering.
Contrast program during the game: At times there were even whistles against their own team. Coach Filip Jicha’s protégés fell apart at times in the second half – and deservedly suffered their first home defeat of the season. With now three minus points more compared to rival SG Flensburg-Handewitt in second place, the bankruptcy is doubly bitter.
Close duel – high-class game
Even the opening phase was clearly going to the guests. Led by national player Julian Köster, who is moving to Kiel for the new season and had to sign autographs during his flying visit, Gummersbach was wide awake from the start. Offensive: Tilen Kodrin scored to make it 5:2 (5th). But also defensively: VfL only conceded four goals in the first nine minutes (4:6).
THW made life difficult for itself in the opening quarter of an hour with several time penalties. But the Kiel defense, which acted very variably, got better from minute to minute. At times, Gummersbach was barely able to finish. Lukas Laube made it 8:8 in the 19th minute. And Lukas Zerbe, who had already had the ball thrown away once before, gave the home team the lead for the first time with his second seven-meter penalty (9:8/20.).
But Köster and Miro Schluroff braced themselves against the Kiel run. Now there was real fire, handball at a high level. Consequently, the “Zebras” lead at halftime (15:14) was extremely close.
Perez de Vargas (briefly) provides hope, …
Curiously, Kiel’s throw rate was just as worse as the rate of balls saved by THW keeper Andreas Wolff compared to Dominik Kuzmanovic in the VfL goal. And after the break, Gummersbach quickly took the lead again with two goals thanks to Mathis Häseler (17:15/35.). Only when Gonzalo Perez de Vargas came on as a substitute did the guests get more resistance again. The Spaniard quickly made five saves – and his team equalized again six minutes later through Nikola Bilyk (18:18/41.).
… then Kiel experiences its blue miracle
But Kiel has rarely experienced what happened next. The team completely fell apart within a few minutes. Schluroff and Co. now took advantage of every mistake. With a 7:0 (!) run, the Gummersbachers, dressed in blue jerseys, pulled ahead to 25:18. And all in just four minutes. There were whistles in the time-honored arena – for their own players.
One of the Gummersbach heroes was Kuzmanovic, who ultimately set a personal Bundesliga record with 20 saves. And so VfL finally celebrated a landslide victory and their first success in Kiel in around 20 years.
