The images were similar. Everywhere the players went to their spectators after the final whistle and thanked them, everywhere – whether victory or defeat – the end of a draining season was celebrated. Because this season had it more than ever. The Olympic Games last summer in Tokyo meant that the last two years have been a mammoth program, especially for the national players. So also with the foxes. Lasse Andersson, for example, struggled with a shoulder injury for a long time and still played, while his Danish national team colleague Jacob Holm has been struggling with knee problems for some time and has to have an operation during the break.
There are many stories like this and in every team. But on the last day of the game, all of this faded into the background. The handball players wanted to say goodbye to their fans, who had returned to the halls in large numbers after a long absence from corona and gave back to the sport what was sorely missed on all sides.
The sporting performance of a season was celebrated that once again brought its surprises with it. Be it the defeat of THW Kiel when TuS N-Lübbecke was promoted and then relegated again, or the sovereignty and consistency of the newly crowned champions from Magdeburg.
The league has shown once again that nothing is predictable here. That’s what the title of SC Magdeburg stands for. This is what the sporting rise of HSV Hamburg Handball, which ranks twelfth after this season, stands for. This is also reflected in the sometimes disappointing season of the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen, who will not take part in the international competition next year and had to give way to Göppingen, Lemgo, Melsungen and Wetzlar.
At the bottom of the table are Balingen and Lübbecke, who have to say goodbye to the upper house, while in addition to ASV Hamm-Westfalen, VfL Gummersbach, one of the big traditional clubs, has managed to get promoted.
However, all of this was already certain before the last encounter, so that the results of the day took a back seat. It was much more about beautiful scenes than about hard-fought games. In cover, the attack was not as aggressive as usual, but offensively there were one or two daring moves that might otherwise not have been shown.
This was also the case in Berlin, where the third place was already secured by the draw in Balingen, so that the expected final against the competitor from Flensburg was no longer explosive. It was a special kind of show where both teams wanted to offer the 8,818 spectators in the Max-Schmeling-Halle something else.
The Danish exceptional right winger Hans Lindberg was particularly encouraged. After a sensational season, the 40-year-old scored the first three goals for his team and contributed a total of nine goals. This was also due to the fact that his teammates played a lot for their right winger, who fought in a long-distance duel with Bjarki Mar Elisson and Omar Ingi Magnusson for the award for the league’s top scorer – and also won with 242 goals.
Despite his throwing effectiveness, the Berliners did not get beyond a 22:28 (14:17) defeat this Sunday. Not least because Lindberg’s national team colleague Kevin Møller was in top form in the Flensburg goal.
Nevertheless, a positive feeling remained after the season overall. Sure, Berlin had hoped for a little more in the German and European Cups, but third place showed that the club is at the top of the league. Not only was the team around Captain Paul Drux able to place ahead of Flensburg, but with 15 minus points, coach Jaron Siewert’s team did much better than last year.
A result that the foxes want to build on in the coming season. However, Fredrik Genz, Tim Matthes, Johan Koch, Marian Michalczik and Viran Morros, who will continue their way at other clubs, will not be there.
Meanwhile, record players Carsten Lichtlein, Lasse Svan and Alexander Petersson, among others, are saying goodbye, while other well-known faces of the league such as the exceptional player Andy Schmid, Jannick Green and Bjarki Mar Elisson are looking for new challenges abroad. They were the ones who were particularly celebrated this weekend before the handball players said goodbye in all directions.
