Because of a Mallorca trip
Absegtzoff in the handball Bundesliga
09.06.2025 – 11:38 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The SG BBM Bietigheim descends from the Bundesliga and coach Iker Romero makes serious accusations against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The trigger is a party trip in the middle of the season.
This Bundesliga descent has a thread aftertaste. The SG BBM Bietigheim only has to go back to the second class a year after the ascent. The 25:35 defeat against Vice Master Magdeburg on Sunday sealed the descent. After the game, Bietigheim’s coach Iker Romero expressed significant criticism of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. It was about a team trip of the lions shortly before the decisive game against Bietigheim’s direct competitor TVB Stuttgart.
Background: Some players from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen had used a game-free weekend for a trip to Mallorca at the end of May. The following match day, the team lost to Stuttgart after a weak performance with 26:33 – a result with far -reaching consequences.
The two points helped the TVB decisively to stay in the league. Stuttgart ended the season with 18 points, Bietigheim came to 17 and has to go back to the 2nd league after only one year.
Romero showed no understanding of this trip at this time in the interview at streaming service Dyn: “I will never forget that. Not because of me. Because of these 17 people,” said the Spaniard and pointed to his team. At the same time, he clearly criticized the behavior of the lions: “When a team goes to Malle before the Stuttgart game, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, that’s not fair.”
Romero praised his players for their efforts and announced with a wink: “You will go to Malle tomorrow.”
After the controversial appearance of the lions against Stuttgart, her trainer Sebastian Hinze had already announced consequences: “That was an appearance that we cannot leave.”
The case is reminiscent of the controversial Ibiza trip at football record champions FC Bayern. The Munich flew to the party island before the last matchday of the past season to celebrate the championship title, but the following weekend still played against the TSG Hoffenheim involved in the relegation battle.
But Bayern let all critics fall silent with a convincing 4-0 win and, unlike the lions, delivered a strong performance after the party excursion.
Romero later went straight to the club tour of the lions and said: “It always comes back.” Löwen sports director Uwe Gensheimer was cautious in a statement at the “Bild newspaper”: “I heard about it, yes. I had already had contact with Iker. There is no more to say about it.”