Handball Bundesliga: SC Magdeburg with an advantage in the top game against Füchse Berlin

They look dark and wear martial outfits: Tim Hornke, right winger of SC Magdeburg, carries a sword, his coach Bennet Wiegert presents a spear. Dejan Milosavljev, Füchse Berlin goalkeeper, is also heavily armed. Before the top game, the Handball Bundesliga is advertising on social media with a modified poster of the second part of the science fiction saga “Dune,” which is currently showing in cinemas.

Things are unlikely to degenerate into dystopian battles like those designed by director Denis Villeneuve on Sunday in the sold-out Magdeburg Arena. It is well known that the best handball professionals fight each other physically hard, but of course their code prohibits them from injuring their opponents. Of course, this Sunday there will be a preliminary decision in the fight for the German championship between second-placed SC Magdeburg and front-runner Füchse Berlin.

If the Magdeburgers lose this home game with their 38:6 points, there would already be three minus points between them and the capital city team, who arrive with a score of 41:5 points. Given the league leaders’ stable performance so far, it’s hard to imagine that 30-year-old coach Jaron Siewert’s team would let their first championship title be taken away. Füchse sports director Stefan Kretzschmar therefore speaks of a “fantastic showdown”.

This season already has a handball historical dimension: for the first time since the 1992/93 season, when SG Wallau/Massenheim prevailed against TV Niederwürzbach, none of the big clubs from Schleswig-Holstein is no longer in the title race in the final phase of the championship. Both record champions THW Kiel with 34:12 points in fourth place and SG Flensburg-Handewitt, which is one place and point better placed, have already lost all their chances and will therefore have to watch in the Champions League next season. However, the tectonics of German club handball are unlikely to have shifted permanently. The Kiel empire, which still has the largest budget at 14 million euros, will soon strike back again. And the SG from the Danish border region, whose coach Nicolej Krickau had to pay a lot of lessons in his first Bundesliga season, should also be hunting for the title again in the autumn.

The SCM goes into the top game of the two currently ahead of the game with at least a mental advantage. He proved himself in a similar situation two years ago, when the second all-German championship title after 2001 was celebrated. And last summer the team held their nerve when they triumphed in the Champions League for the second time since 2002. Added to this is the home advantage this Sunday. “The people of Magdeburg are a power at home,” says Julian Rux, who works as a data expert for the Bundesliga. In fact, nowhere is the pressure built up by the fans in the stands as great as in Magdeburg. In the league, the SCM has not lost any points at home this season.

The shape of the figurehead of East German handball is also right. On Thursday evening, the remarkably calm SCM won for the first time in Veszprém and broke away with the 30:28-Sieg the ticket for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In particular, the Swedish backcourt player Felix Claar has been in great form for weeks. “We didn’t let the crowd irritate us,” he said after his nine goals in Hungary. In the championship fight, a lot will now depend on whether the Berliners are impressed by the backdrop in Magdeburg.

The Magdeburg team can spread the sporting burden across many shoulders in the backcourt; alongside Claar, middle man Janus Smarason is also in impressive form. The Foxes’ offensive, on the other hand, is very much tailored to the Danish left-hander Mathias Gidsel. The world champion is having a spectacular season so far, his hit rate is over 72 percent.

Meanwhile, the coaches are trying to take the pressure off the cauldron. “I don’t see a preliminary decision yet, there are still nine or ten games left to play and a lot can happen in the Bundesliga,” says Füchse coach Siewert. His Magdeburg colleague Wiegert agrees: “Of course no decision has been made yet, you just have to look at the remaining program of both teams.” In fact, strength could ultimately decide the German championship. The strain is enormous for both teams as they are still playing for three titles: The Final Four tournament in Cologne in mid-April is about the DHB Cup. And while the SCM wants to defend the trophy in the premier class, the Foxes are playing against Schaffhausen in the round of 16 of the European League.

Berlin’s dream of winning the German championship, which manager Bob Hanning calls the “most important title”, could burst, also with a view to their own squad. Gidsel mustn’t hurt herself. Goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev, who is having his best league series, should not be out either. In view of the rest of the program, the SCM also appears to be better equipped in terms of personnel in this important position, as its two goalkeepers Nicolas Portner and Sergej Hernandez are performing at a similar level. On Sunday, however, all previous season statistics will count for little, then details and form on the day will decide the outcome of this historic season.