AUDIO: Flensburg-Handewitt disappoints in Stuttgart (1 min)
Handball Bundesliga
As of: May 24, 2026 7:54 p.m
Three days after the bitter last-second defeat in Magdeburg, handball Bundesliga team SG Flensburg-Handewitt suffered another setback in the race for a Champions League place. The North Germans lost to twelfth-placed TVB Stuttgart on Whit Sunday with 33:37 (16:19).
Due to this bitter defeat on matchday 32, Flensburg remains in third place in the table with 49:15 points. The second-placed Füchse Berlin (49:13) is still one game behind (at ThSV Eisenach/Friday) and could move away from its pursuer by two points. The capital city team also has a much better goal difference. Only the first two ranks entitle you to participate in the “premier class” via the Bundesliga.
“We are aware that we no longer have it in our own hands.”
SG captain Johannes Golla
“At the beginning, nothing came together at all. We’re doing everything wrong that you can do wrong,” complained SG captain Johannes Golla in an interview with NDR. “The half-time speech was actually fruitful. But then there is another phase in which we throw a lot of things out of hand. We don’t take advantage of our numerical advantage and make a lot of technical mistakes. Today is a deserved defeat at an unfavorable time.”
Coach Ales Pajovic’s team will host ThSV Eisenach on June 4th, and will then go to the Füchse on the last match day. Unlike the SG, the THW Kiel confidently prevailed at the Bergischer HC on Sunday.
SG wants the title treble in the European League
The Bundesliga will take a break next weekend, then the European League trophy will be on the line in Hamburg. Flensburg even has the chance to win the title treble in the second most important European club competition. After the triumphs in the last two years, the SG will meet MT Melsungen in the semi-finals of the Final Four on Saturday (3:30 p.m.). THW Kiel will face Montpellier HB (12.30 p.m.) – the same semi-finals as a year ago.
Flensburg residents are having an enormously difficult time
After 3:40 minutes in the Stuttgart Arena it was clear from the guests’ point of view: the start to the game was “simply catastrophic”, as Golla said. The 2.05-meter giant Lenny Rubin, who primarily creates danger from the TVB’s positional attack, had just picked up the pace on a counterattack, smoothly rounded Lasse Möller and finally defeated Kevin Möller in the SG goal (5:1).
However, the Schleswig-Holstein team’s reaction was impressive: Golla brought the SG within 6:7 in the eleventh minute. However, things didn’t continue like that. The guests then had a hard time defending against TVB coach Misha Kaufmann’s team, who once again did without a pivot and instead relied on four backcourt players.
And since things weren’t going well for the North Germans on offense and they couldn’t get into their tempo game, they were soon behind again by four goals (12:16, 23rd). At halftime it was 16:19 behind.
Too many mistakes in the SG game
A missed seven-meter penalty and technical errors made it difficult to catch up, but 17 minutes before the end of the game Emil Jakobsen had brought the score level, and just a few seconds later the Danish world-class left winger also gave Flensburg its first lead ever with a score of 26:25.
But the Swabians responded very strongly and pulled away again to 33:28 (53rd). Flensburg simply made too many technical errors and – unlike Stuttgart with Mateusz Kornecki – there was no support in the goal. Both Kevin Möller and Benjamin Buric remained well below their potential. The SG could no longer make the game exciting in the final phase. The most successful Flensburg player was Marko Grgic with seven goals.
