Handball-Bundesliga

This article is about the German men’s handball league. For the German women's handball league, see Handball-Bundesliga (women).

The Handball-Bundesliga (HBL), currently known as Daikin Handball-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top German professional handball league. From 2007 to 2012, the league was sponsored by Toyota and was officially called the Toyota Handball-Bundesliga. In 2012 the Deutsche Kreditbank AG (DKB)^[1] became the new sponsor. As of 2024^[update], the latest league sponsor is Daikin and the official name has consequently been changed to Daikin Handball-Bundesliga. The winners of the respective season are the official German handball champions. The HBL is headquartered in Dortmund.

Bundesliga

Current season, competition or edition: 2025–26 Handball-Bundesliga
Sport	Handball
Founded	1966; 59 years ago (1966)
First season	1966–67
President	Uwe Schwenker
Administrator	Handball-Bundesliga e.V.
No. of teams	18
Country	Germany
Headquarters	Edmund-Rumpler-Str. 4, Cologne
Confederation	EHF
Most recent champion(s)	Füchse Berlin (1st title) (2024–25)
Most titles	THW Kiel (23 titles)
Broadcaster(s)	Dyn
Sponsor(s)	Daikin
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Relegation to	2. Handball-Bundesliga
Domestic cup(s)	DHB-Pokal DHB-Supercup
International cup(s)	EHF Champions League EHF European League
Official website	daikin-hbl.de

History

The Bundesliga was introduced with the 1966/67 season and initially operated with two regional sections, North and South. Since 1977 the Bundesliga has operated with a single section first division, currently composed of eighteen clubs. In 1981 a 2.Bundesliga was introduced as a new second division, supplanting the Regionalliga which became the third tier. The 2.Bundesliga used to consist of two (resp. three in the first two years after the German reunification) sections north and south for thirty years. Starting with the 2011/12 season the 2.Bundesliga is run in a single section consisting of twenty teams.

Season

The season has 34 game days (or weeks) and is played as a round-robin tournament without playoffs or a final. The season starts in August or September and ends in May.

The first and second-placed teams are entitled to play in the EHF Champions League the following season. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth-placed teams additionally play in the EHF European League. The seedings are subject to change, in case a German team wins the Champions League, the EHF European League or the EHF Cup Winner's Cup because each winner of those tournaments is granted an automatic start in the next year's tournament without taking one of the league's spots. It also can change if the DHB-Pokal Champion takes one of the league spots for the Champions League or the EHF European League.

Relegation and promotion

The HBL GmbH Headquarters

Until 2011, the two last placed teams would be relegated to the 2. Handball-Bundesliga for the next season, either in its northern or the southern section. The sixteenth placed team used to play in a home and away decider against the winner of the decider between the two-second placed teams of the northern and the southern section of the 2. Bundesliga. The champions of the second divisions received a spot for the Bundesliga automatically.

Since the 2017–18 season, the bottom two teams of the Bundesliga will directly be relegated to the 2. Bundesliga, while the top two teams of the 2. Bundesliga will be directly promoted to the Bundesliga.

Clubs

Members of the 2025–26 Handball-Bundesliga.

Bergischer HC

Berlin

Eisenach

Erlangen

Flensburg

Göppingen

Gummersbach

Hamburg

Hannover

Kiel

Leipzig

Lemgo

Magdeburg

Melsungen

Minden

RN Löwen

Stuttgart

Wetzlar

Locations of the 2025–26 Handball-Bundesliga teams

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity
Bergischer HC	Wuppertal	Uni-Halle	3,200
Füchse Berlin	Berlin	Max-Schmeling-Halle	9,000
ThSV Eisenach	Eisenach	Werner-Aßmann-Halle	3,100
HC Erlangen	Nuremberg	PSD Bank Nürnberg Arena	8,308
SG Flensburg-Handewitt	Flensburg	GP Joule Arena	6,300
Frisch Auf Göppingen	Göppingen	EWS Arena	5,600
VfL Gummersbach	Gummersbach	Schwalbe-Arena	4,132
HSV Hamburg	Hamburg	Alsterdorfer Sporthalle	7,000
TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	Hanover	ZAG-Arena Swiss Life Hall	9,850 4,460
THW Kiel	Kiel	Wunderino Arena	10,285
SC DHfK Leipzig	Leipzig	Quarterback Immobilien Arena	6,327
TBV Lemgo	Lemgo	Phoenix-Contact-Arena	4,520
SC Magdeburg	Magdeburg	GETEC Arena	6,600
MT Melsungen	Kassel	Rothenbach-Halle	4,500
GWD Minden	Minden	Kampa-Halle	4,059
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	Mannheim	SAP Arena	13,200
TVB Stuttgart	Stuttgart	Porsche-Arena	6,211
HSG Wetzlar	Wetzlar	Buderus Arena Wetzlar	4,421

Champions

The complete list of the German handball champions since 1950.

Season Champion 1949–50 SV Polizei Hamburg 1950–51 SV Polizei Hamburg 1951–52 SV Polizei Hamburg 1952–53 SV Polizei Hamburg 1953–54 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1954–55 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1955–56 Berliner SV 1892 1956–57 THW Kiel 1957–58 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1958–59 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1959–60 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1960–61 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1961–62 THW Kiel 1962–63 THW Kiel 1963–64 Berliner SV 1892 1964–65 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1965–66 VfL Gummersbach 1966–67 VfL Gummersbach 1967–68 SG Leutershausen 1968–69 VfL Gummersbach 1969–70 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1970–71 Grün-Weiß Dankersen 1971–72 Frisch Auf Göppingen 1972–73 VfL Gummersbach 1973–74 VfL Gummersbach 1974–75 VfL Gummersbach 1975–76 VfL Gummersbach 1976–77 Grün-Weiß Dankersen 1977–78 TV Großwallstadt 1978–79 TV Großwallstadt 1979–80 TV Großwallstadt 1980–81 TV Großwallstadt 1981–82 VfL Gummersbach 1982–83 VfL Gummersbach 1983–84 TV Großwallstadt 1984–85 VfL Gummersbach 1985–86 TUSEM Essen 1986–87 TUSEM Essen 1987–88 VfL Gummersbach 1988–89 TUSEM Essen 1989–90 TV Großwallstadt 1990–91 VfL Gummersbach 1991–92 SG Wallau-Massenheim 1992–93 SG Wallau-Massenheim 1993–94 THW Kiel 1994–95 THW Kiel 1995–96 THW Kiel 1996–97 TBV Lemgo 1997–98 THW Kiel 1998–99 THW Kiel 1999–20 THW Kiel 2000–01 SC Magdeburg 2001–02 THW Kiel 2002–03 TBV Lemgo 2003–04 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 2004–05 THW Kiel 2005–06 THW Kiel 2006–07 THW Kiel 2007–08 THW Kiel 2008–09 THW Kiel 2009–10 THW Kiel 2010–11 HSV Hamburg 2011–12 THW Kiel 2012–13 THW Kiel 2013–14 THW Kiel 2014–15 THW Kiel 2015–16 Rhein-Neckar Löwen 2016–17 Rhein-Neckar Löwen 2017–18 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 2018–19 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 2019–20 THW Kiel 2020–21 THW Kiel 2021–22 SC Magdeburg 2022–23 THW Kiel 2023–24 SC Magdeburg 2024–25 Füchse Berlin

Total titles won

Club	Winners	Years
THW Kiel	23	1957, 1962, 1963, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2020, 2021, 2023
VfL Gummersbach	12	1966, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1991
Frisch Auf Göppingen	09	1954, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1970, 1972
TV Großwallstadt	06	1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1990
SV Polizei Hamburg	04	1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
SG Flensburg-Handewitt	03	2004, 2018, 2019
TUSEM Essen	03	1986, 1987, 1989
SC Magdeburg	03	2001, 2022, 2024
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	02	2016, 2017
TBV Lemgo	02	1997, 2003
SG Wallau-Massenheim	02	1992, 1993
GWD Minden	02	1971, 1977
Berliner SV 1892*	02	1956, 1964
HSV Hamburg	01	2011
SG Leutershausen	01	1968
Füchse Berlin	01	2025

Statistics

EHF coefficients

See also: EHF coefficient rank

The following data indicates German coefficient rankings between European handball leagues.

Country ranking EHF League Ranking for 2025/26 season:[2] 1.  (1) Handball-Bundesliga (328.00) 2.  (2) Liga ASOBAL (273.33) 3.  (4) Orlen Superliga (212.66) 4.  (3) LNH Division 1 (206.33) 5.  (6) Herreligaen (202.33)

Club ranking EHF Club Ranking as of 7 July 2025:[3] 1. SC Magdeburg (673) 3. Füchse Berlin (596) 4. SG Flensburg-Handewitt (511) 8. THW KielSG Flensburg-Handewitt (485) 17. MT Melsungen (235)

See also

• DHB-Pokal
• DHB-Supercup
• Handball-Bundesliga (women)
• DHB-Pokal (women)