SG BBM Bietigheim will join HB Ludwigsburg for the 2024/25 season. One of the reasons: lack of appreciation for the city of Bietigheim.
From July 1, 2024, the Bundesliga handball players from SG BBM Bietigheim will join HB Ludwigsburg and will also start under their name. “With this change, we are securing the future of our women’s handball at the highest level,” says Bastian Dörr, managing director of SG BBM Women. This perspective was no longer seen in Bietigheim, which is why all options were examined and the move to HB Ludwigsburg was found to be the “ideal solution”.
SG BBM women are happy about the support that was missing in Bietigheim
The league’s guidelines for the further professionalization of German women’s handball had “forced those responsible to act”. The best handball players in Germany are also hoping for new opportunities in the area of sponsorship. We are already receiving “valuable support” from both the host club and the city of Ludwigsburg.
The team in Bietigheim lacked this support and appreciation. “The move is a bit difficult for me,” says main sponsor Eberhard Benzinger, “but of course when the mayor of Bietigheim declares: ‘Do we even need women’s handball?’ Then there is practically no other way out.” And the sports director also finds clear words: “The considerations matured in 2022 when we were the first German team to bring the European Cup to Bietigheim in 43 years. The response from the city of Bietigheim was minimal,” says Gerit Winnen, “we have one Great team built, a big project, but there is a lack of appreciation in Bietigheim. In my opinion, it would have been negligent to just carry on like that.”
Handball Association Württemberg and the Handball Bundesliga are on board
To ensure that the move goes smoothly in terms of gaming law, the current license holder, the female division of SpVgg Bissingen, is temporarily joining the newly founded HB Ludwigsburg eV. The Württemberg Handball Association and the Women’s Handball Bundesliga are also involved in this process.
Great successes in recent years
In recent years, the SG has celebrated success like it was on an assembly line. The team won the championship title four times, the DHB Cup three times and the EHF Cup once. Under current national coach Markus Gaugisch, the club set a record with 63 wins across all competitions in a row that will last for a long time. In the current season, Bietigheim leads the Bundesliga table with 15:1 points.
Broadcast on Wed, November 29th, 2023, 4:00 p.m., SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg, SWR BW
