AUDIO: Hannover-Burgdorf reaches quarter-finals of the European League (1 min)
European League
As of: March 3, 2026 10:41 p.m
Handball Bundesliga team TSV Hannover-Burgdorf is already in the quarter-finals of the European League. The “Recken” won their third main round game against the Kadetten Schaffhausen 31:27 (15:15) on Tuesday evening and benefited from Nasice’s victory against Fredericia (33:26).
This means that TSV has now been confirmed as first in main round group 4 with eight points. The first team in the group skips the round of 16 of the European League and goes straight to the quarter-finals.
A week after the dominant 36:24 win in Switzerland, however, it was a tough battle for large parts of the game in Hanover. It was only in the last ten minutes that coach Juan Carlos Pastor’s team broke away decisively after several saves from goalkeeper Joel Birlehm. The best thrower for the “Recken” was August Pedersen with nine goals.
Tough first round in Hanover
The first half saved its highlight for the last three seconds: TSV circle runner Justus Fischer stole the ball from his opponent in a duel in his own circle and, as it fell, threw it almost the entire length of the hall into the Cadets’ deserted goal to make the score 15:15 at halftime.
Otherwise, the first 30 minutes offered 30 goals, but overall they were equally combative, error-filled and low-level, in short: tough.
Birlehm becomes the match winner
Two days after the sobering 22:28 home defeat in the league against Göppingen, the Pastor team noticeably lacked freshness for their tempo game. But there was also a lack of an energy source like Leif Tissier, who had to sit out with back problems.
Until the middle of the second round, the league leaders from Switzerland were the better team, but despite several two-goal leads (18:16, 35th; 20:18, 39th), they were not really able to break away. So Hannover remained fully in the game, equalized a little later and took the lead through keeper Joel Birlehm, who first caught a cadet throw and then hit the opponent from his own goal (23:22, 45th).
And Birlehm was also the decisive man in the final quarter of an hour: with several saves, he enabled his team to pull away decisively – and make their early quarter-final entry perfect.
