DHB Cup: decision in the handball final four

The Final Four for the DHB Cup will take place for the first time in front of a very large crowd in Cologne. SG Flensburg-Handewitt, Rhein-Neckar Löwen, SC Magdeburg and TBV Lemgo Lippe are fighting for the first title of the season.

If you believe the words of Marc-Henrik Schmedt, Managing Director of SC Magdeburg, the busy A2 will be a little bit fuller than usual on Saturday. Half of Magdeburg will make its way to Cologne, the venue for the Final Four for the DHB Cup. Cologne, Schmedt added, was after all “known for big handball festivals“.

For this sentence, Magdeburg’s manager in the cathedral city should certainly be welcomed by the local organizers with an extra Kölsch. For the Handball Bundesliga (HBL), the decision to relocate the final weekend from Hamburg to Cologne required some explanation.

Final Four sold out at Premiere in Cologne

Since 1994, the cup winner has been played in the north, with the handball metropolises of Flensburg and Kiel and traditionally many handball fans in the area. Many of them would have preferred to see the cup final further along the Elbe. But the large arena in Cologne offers the Handball Bundesliga far better marketing opportunities as the organizer. Almost 20,000 spectators are expected in the sold-out arena on Saturday and Sunday, two-thirds more than last time in Hamburg.

After 30 years, it is time to move on, said HBL Managing Director Frank Bohmann, in Hamburg one is “in many areas” at “pushed our limits“. In Cologne, the HBL expects a significantly higher turnover, at least until 2025 the final weekend is firmly booked in the arena in the Deutz district. There, where the Final Four in the Champions League has been held since 2011, the HBL follows the model of the European association. The Final Four in the DHB Cup should now “one of the best handball events in the world“, announced league boss Bohmann in advance.

Anticipation at Flensburg’s Golla: “Can beat anyone”

The fact that Kiel and Berlin, the two currently top-ranked teams in the league, are missing shouldn’t spoil the festive mood. The Berliners had already failed in the second round at Flensburg. Flensburg will meet Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the first semi-final on Saturday (4:10 p.m.). Flensburg has won all of the last four semi-final duels against the Löwen.

However, the last cup triumph for the North Germans was eight years ago. The anticipation is correspondingly high, also for Johannes Golla, who is competing in the Final Four for the first time: “It’s a huge goal to bring another title to Flensburg“said the international. “I have enough confidence in the quality of our team, we can beat anyone.“

Lions fear for Groetzki

Flensburg are slightly favored against the lions, who were in serious trouble recently in the league (four defeats in a row) and may also have to do without their best player: captain and top scorer Patrick Groetzki is at risk of being out sick. The Rhein-Neckar Löwen have a special history with the cup: the team failed ten times in a row in the Final Four before finally being able to celebrate the longed-for cup triumph in 2018 – including a win against SC Magdeburg.

Magdeburg in the semifinals against Lemgo Favorit

The Magdeburgers booked the ticket for this year’s cup final with a very narrow victory in extra time against THW Kiel, the cup title defender. Magdeburg’s master coach Bennet Wiegert was humble: “We don’t know what to expect in Cologne, it’s our first time there. Anything can happen on a Final Four weekend. But of course we are happy to be there and hope to be successful.”

With TBV Lemgo Lippe, thirteenth in the Bundesliga table, Magdeburg seems to have the easiest way to the final, but the champions should be warned: East Westphalia have developed into real cup specialists – and made it into the Final Four for the third time in a row.

In the league, both duels this season went to Magdeburg, but TBV coach Florian Kehrmann spoke strongly of his team on WDR: “The Final Four is a competition in itself, the cards are completely reshuffled.” Kehrmann is also hoping for a small home advantage on North Rhine-Westphalian soil: “I expect that a majority of the spectators will be behind us.”