AUDIO: THW Kiel has to accept a draw in Eisenach (1 min)
As of: November 28, 2025 11:05 p.m
Handball Bundesliga team THW Kiel has once again lost a point in the fight for the top of the table. The record champions failed to score more than 27:27 (14:12) in Eisenach on Friday evening. The record champions already have seven minus points in their account.
The Thuringians offered the favorite a hot fight and were rewarded. Kiel did not act consistently enough in attack. The throwing rate of 56 percent was far too low for the Schleswig-Holsteiners. A big factor for this was the hosts’ outstanding goalkeeper. Matija Spikic made 16 saves and was man of the match. The best throwers were Lukas Zerbe from Kiel with seven goals and Felix Aellen and Vincent Büchner with five goals each for Eisenach.
“We didn’t play well enough here to take two points.”
THW goalkeeper Andreas Wolff
The THW continues on Tuesday (8.45 p.m.) in the European League with the home game against Montpellier HB. The duel with the French is about the important group victory. The next league game for the “Zebras” is on December 10th (7 p.m.) at home against Stuttgart.
Hot place in Eisenach
The venerable Werner-Aßmann-Halle in Eisenach is a hot place and always a challenge. The people of Kiel felt this from the start. As usual, the hosts were physical and had a good goalkeeper in Spikic between the posts, who took away several throws from the German record champions. The THW also made a few mistakes in the tempo game and had to be content with a two-goal lead (14:12) at the break.
Duvnjak takes responsibility
Spikic also delivered a strong performance in the second 30 minutes, while Kiel’s shooting percentage continued to leave something to be desired. The result: The big favorite was behind 17:20 after 44 minutes. All eyes were on Kiel’s exceptional talent Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu. But the Dane wasn’t able to assert himself as usual for a long time, arguing with himself, his teammates and also the referees.
Domagoj Duvnjak took responsibility and led the Schleswig-Holsteiners out of the depths, worked at the back and made good decisions up front. Nevertheless: Five minutes before the end it was a draw (26:26). Now it was a handball thriller in the Eisenach cauldron in which the teams gave each other nothing.
Spikic makes 16 saves
Duvnjak took the throw from the backcourt with 50 seconds left at 27:27, but Spikic parried it. It was lucky for the Kiel team that Eisenach wasted the last attack. Duvnjak even had another chance to score the winning goal in the last second, but Spikic was there once again with his 16th save.
