VfL Gummersbach is going into the World Cup break of the Handball Bundesliga after a great first half of the season for its standards. One outside player in particular caused a stir.
The game against HSV Hamburg was on the razor’s edge. At 28:29 he was there VfL Gummersbach in the most recent home game against the North Germans three minutes before the end of the game – and then Lukas Blohme came. VfL’s right winger equalized and turned the sold-out Schwalbe Arena into a madhouse. In the midst of this euphoria, the 28-year-old followed suit – VfL had turned the game around in the final minutes and won with 31:30. Also thanks to Blohme’s outstanding nine goals once again.
Gummersbach puts down great first half of the season
With now 18:18 points, the promoted team can look back on a sensational first half of the season for its standards. While many had feared that the Gummersbachers would have to struggle in the bottom of the table in the elite league after the longed-for re-emergence, the team taught the observers better: From the start, the young team played refreshing attackinghandballsurprised many of the established opponents with courageous speed play.
“We certainly benefited from the fact that we went into the games carefree and without any pressure,” explained right winger Blohme after VfL’s 37:32 away win in Erlangen in early December. “And then we got into a run that made a lot of things easier for us,” said Blohme.
Blohme – no supporting role on right winger
In addition to national team player Julian Köster and playmaker Dominik Mappes, it was mainly Blohme who excited the enthusiastic fans in the often sold-out Gummersbacher Halle. It is the fate of many outside players in handball to only occasionally be involved in team play outside of speed attacks. Often they only play a supporting role.
It’s completely different at VfL. Blohme not only hits the opponent’s goal from the right wing. In the absence of Dominik Mappes, he also took responsibility from the seven-meter point against Hamburg. And converted all of his five attempts. Overall, he scored a whopping 103 goals in the first 18 games of the season – that’s sixth in the HBL scorer list.
High on the scorers list
Blohme has scored 103 goals so far this season
Born in Flensburg, he can rightly be described as a “late bloomer” in top German handball. “He has improved incredibly over the past few years,” said VfL coach Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson on the occasion of Blohme’s contract extension at VfL. The left-hander has been playing for VfL since 2019, and in the summer he extended his contract until 2025. “Gummersbach has become something of a second home,” says Blohme, who is pleased that his partner has also moved closer to his side. “She also moved to Gummersbach and now works here permanently,” says Blohme.
After his years of training in Flensburg and the detour via ASV Hamm Westfalen, Blohme ended up in Oberbergisches Land in 2019. The step over the second division has obviously done the right winger good – he developed into a regular player and mentality factor of the Gummersbacher.
passion and enthusiasm
With his open nature and his passionate playing, he has become the darling of the public. And thus also assumed responsibility in the team. “He’s immensely important to us, on the one hand as a player on the plate and on the other hand as a person in the team,” says coach Sigurdsson, who especially appreciates Blohme’s positive charisma: “Lukas is a great boy who is good for the team and always is in a great mood.”
Many observers of the scene had seen Blohme in the squad of the German national team for the upcoming World Cup – national coach Alfred Gislason decided against it. Yet. If Blohme also plays in the second part of the season as in the first – then Gislason should hardly be able to get past the Gummersbacher mentality player. Now he and his colleagues are going into the World Cup break. Gummersbach’s next Bundesliga appearance is a home game against TBV Lemgo on February 9th.
