The Danish Men’s League, Bambuni Herreligaen, has delivered plenty of drama from the very start. Now, it’s time for GoHandball’s first Power Rankings of the season, with reporter Ola Selby taking stock of the opening seven rounds.
Power Rankings is Ola Selbys monthly take on which teams are truly in form. It’s not about the league table, but about how the teams have performed during the past month.
Here are the Danish Men’s League Power Rankings for August and September!
1: GOG Håndbold
Current league standing: 1
Not only were GOG the best team in Denmark in August and September, but the next-best team wasn’t even that close to Kasper Christensen’s team. Seven games played meant six wins and one draw – a weird game against Holstebro where neither team scored during the final ten minutes. GOG defeated Skjern, SAH, Mors-Thy, Sønderjyske, Fredericia, and Ribe-Esbjerg, so the schedule wasn’t the easiest one either.
What impresses me most about this team is the speed at which they play the game. Hjalte Lykke, Manuel Zehnder and, of course, Óli Mittún all play not only fast but in an entertaining fashion. Lykke had himself a couple of games with six goals and five assists against Skjern, ten goals and three assists against Holstebro, and a couple more of those 10+ point performances. Zehnder is looking more and more like the player who won the top scorer title in the Bundesliga a few years ago.
But the main man is, without a doubt, Mittún. The Faroese wonder continues to dominate and will probably play for a even better team next season.
It’s also worth mentioning the impact Kevin Møller has had. The experienced goalkeeper has had at least four games in which he saved 10 or more shots. GOG are looking a lot more solid at the back as a result of his mere presence.
2: Aalborg Håndbold
Current league standing: 3
Photo: Aalborg Håndbold
Well, I don’t want to say that Aalborg have been bad, because they haven’t. But they haven’t quite looked like themselves either, dropping points against Fredericia and Bjerringbro-Silkeborg. It hasn’t looked like the same old Aalborg, playing like a machine.
In the loss against Fredericia, they only managed to score 26 goals against Torbjørn Sittrup Bergerud and lost the game. And against BSH, Magnus Landin missed a late penalty and the reigning champions had to settle for one point.
Other than that, Aalborg have, of course, been great. Wins against Sønderjyske, Holstebro, Skjern, Nordsjælland, and Ringsted. Thomas Arnoldsen, the assist machine, and Mads Hoxer, who has been scoring at will in some games, have stood out the most. It’s also worth mentioning right back Patrick Helland Anderson and his continued development into a top player.
No, Aalborg are not where they were a year ago, but my guess is that it’s just a matter of time before they are back to their old, machine-like selves.
3: SAH
Current league standing: 4
Photo: Skanderborg Håndbold
Was last season’s second place and silver medal a fluke, or are SAH at the top to stay? Based on the first seven games of the new season, my answer is the latter. Sure, two losses already, but one of them came against GOG in a tight match and the other against Skjern in a game where the opposition goalkeeper became a wall.
The most impressive part about this team is the offensive play. Forty goals against Ringsted, 31 against GOG, 34 against Nordsjælland, 42 against Skive, 32 against Kolding, and 38 against Mors-Thy (yes, I left out the 25 goals scored against Skjern). SAH are playing very effective attacking handball, with players like Kristjan Örn Kristjansson, Fredrik Olsson, and Jeppe Cieslak all producing standout performances.
However, should we be worried about the defence? As great as the attacking play has been, the defence has looked a bit shakier. Only two of the seven games saw SAH keep their opponents under 30 goals. There is plenty of room for improvement there, but on the other hand, as long as SAH keep winning matches, perhaps it doesn’t matter.
4: Ribe-Esbjerg HH
Current league standing: 2
Photo: M. Andersen
Ribe-Esbjerg have been quite disappointing for the last couple of seasons. The squad “should” have taken them to the play-offs, but they have, in my opinion, underperformed. The same can’t be said about the start of the 2025/26 campaign, where they have 11 points in seven games and are sitting in second place in the table.
They started the season by beating Mors-Thy 34–32 and haven’t looked back since. After that match, I thought they were going to lose to Fredericia, but they won again in convincing fashion, much thanks to new goalkeeper Salah Boutaf. They then played another four games without losing, with Karl Wallinius and Elvar Asgeirsson impressing from the back court and Jerry Tollbring looking more like the player who became top scorer in the league some years ago, until ultimately coming up short against GOG, the team of the month.
The biggest change from last season is the defensive play. Ribe-Esbjerg are looking a lot more solid and doing a better job of helping their goalkeepers. Impressive turnaround!
5: Skjern Håndbold
Current league standing: 5
Photo: Skjern Håndbold
It’s impossible to speak about Skjern without focusing on Axel Månsson. The playmaker has completely dominated the league and taken Denmark by storm in the first seven matches of the season. The 21-year-old is not only at the top of the assist chart, but he is so far ahead of the rest of the players. Have a look at his stats in some of the games:
Against Ringsted: ten goals and seven assists.
Against Mors-Thy: six goals and twelve assists.
Against Aalborg: four goals and thirteen assists.
Against TTH: nine goals and five assists.
That’s insane for a player who’s only getting started.
Skjern as a team? Up and down, with four wins and three losses. Tough injuries to Jacob Holm, among others, but also a tough schedule – the toughest in the league? – with matches against GOG, Aalborg, and SAH.
6: Fredericia Håndboldklub
Current league standing: 9
Photo: Vegard Grøtt / BILDBYRÅN
Being a supporter of Fredericia must be quite the roller coaster. From the high point of defeating Aalborg by seven goals to losing three of the four following games. Wow!
But let’s start with the Aalborg game and let me state the obvious: Torbjørn Sittrup Bergerud is a great keeper. The Norwegian had 17 saves and a 40 per cent save percentage against the champions. In attack, William Andersson Moberg scored nine times against the superstars in Aalborg.
And it’s those two players who have stood out for Fredericia in August and September. Bergerud has been great in almost all of the games and, until he got injured, Andersson Moberg dominated from his playmaker position.
The trick for Fredericia? Finding a greater balance between defence and offence, and raising the floor of their performances.
7: Mors-Thy Håndbold
Current league standing: 10
Loss, win, loss, loss, win, win, and loss. The consistency hasn’t been there for Mors-Thy so far this season. Sure, the losses came against top teams Ribe-Esbjerg, Skjern, GOG, and SAH, but still. The wins came against teams at the bottom of the league in Kolding, Skive, and Ringsted. My point? It’s hard to analyse this team.
There have been some standout individual performances, though. I’m thinking about Gustav Sunesen in the opener against Ribe, where he had seven goals and four assists. Rasmus Henriksen had 14 saves against Kolding, and in the same game Sebastian Barthold scored seven goals on eight shots. And let’s not forget Anton Houe’s top game against Skjern, in which he scored eight times.
But as long as Mors-Thy “only” win against teams that are below them in the table and lose against teams that should be on their level, or a bit better, they won’t advance in the table.
8: Bjerringbro-Silkeborg
Current league standing: 7
Well, there are more teams in this league that are quite unpredictable. Predictable because they are so unpredictable? Now I’m getting confused, but BSH are quite confusing as a team, so perhaps it fits. Three wins, one draw and three losses is what made up the months of August and September for this team.
The big problem for BSH is in defence, where they haven’t impressed at all. On the other hand, there are a couple of players who have looked great, Lasse Sunde Lid in particular. The right back scored eight against Holstebro, nine against Nordsjælland, and twelve against Sønderjyske. And Ciljan Sagosen has already improved if I compare his first game of the season to his latest – eight goals on nine attempts against Skive.
If BSH are to allow themselves to look upwards in the table, they have to play much better in defence.
9: TTH Holstebro
Current league standing: 6
Photo: TTH Holstebro
TTH started the season by beating BSH 37–33 after a solid team effort. The next game, they pushed Aalborg to the brink, ultimately losing by two goals. Then they handed GOG their only dropped point so far during the league campaign in the 29–29 outing, in which new keeper Emil Holmberg Schatzl saved three out of three penalties.
So far, so good for Holstebro. After that came two tough losses, first an unnecessary one against Sønderjyske, where they only managed to score nine goals in the first half, and then against a Skjern team that completely dominated them in the second half.
Holstebro at least finished September with two straight wins against newly promoted Skive and Kolding. So, to sum up: great start to the season, not so great in the middle of the month, and then a solid end. It’s looking like a season in the middle of the pack for TTH.
10: KIF Kolding
Current league standing: 12
Photo: KIF Kolding
Sure, Kolding only won two out of the first seven games, but I believe that five out of 14 points is a solid start for a newly promoted team. Hjalte Langmack has been a revelation, scoring a lot of goals and looking like a more experienced player than he actually is.
There have been some dramatic matches for Kolding. In the opener, they defeated fellow newcomers Skive 35–34. It looked like they were going to lose against Nordsjælland, but a late goal from Cornelius Kragh Aastrup got them one point. And they defeated Sønderjyske when Mads Kragh Thomsen scored the winner two seconds before the final whistle.
Clutch team or luck? Probably a bit of both, but all in all, a good start to the season for Anders Eggert and his team.
11: Sønderjyske
Current league standing: 8
It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Sønderjyske at the start of the season. A couple of tough losses could have brought the confidence down in the team, but from the outside, it looks like they are fighting on.
Losing to Aalborg and GOG is expected. But a home loss against BSH and a loss against Kolding are not great. And we should demand more from this team. At the other end of the spectrum, Sønderjyske secured a couple of great wins as well, especially the away wins against Holstebro and Fredericia.
More positives (I’m a positive guy): Reinier Taboada has given the team power, toughness, and great defence. Viktor Bergholt is a goal machine, and team captain Jesper Konradsson is still a top player.
12: Nordsjælland Håndbold
Current league standing: 11
Five points in seven games could easily have been eight points. What am I referring to? The fact that Nordsjælland were a shot off the post by Matias Campbell away from a draw against SAH, and that they conceded a late equaliser against Kolding after being on course for a win.
But if I’m being honest, Nordsjælland were a bit lucky as well, defeating BSH by one goal after a late winner from Nichlas Hald.
As you can tell, Nordsjælland have played in plenty of close games so far this season. They also had some clear losses against Fredericia, Aalborg, and Ribe-Esbjerg, but ended the month on a high when they slammed Skjern, winning 31–27 after a great game by Emil Kheri Imsgaard in goal – not his only great performance in August or September.
13: Skive fH
Current league standing: 13
Let me start by saying that Skive is the team I have the least knowledge of out of the 14 teams in the Danish men’s league. But that’s not the reason I place them second-to-last.
It’s hard to put them higher in the Power Rankings considering they lost six out of seven games in August and September, only managing to defeat last-placed Ringsted.
Their offence has actually looked great, scoring 34 against Kolding, 33 against Sønderjyske, dropping a 40-burger on Ringsted, 38 against SAH, 30 against Mors-Thy, 29 against Holstebro, and 31 against BSH. In other words, there has only been one game in which Skive didn’t manage to score at least 30 goals – and that time they scored 29.
The problem is, as you can tell, not in attack. So far this season, it looks like Skive can’t stop a nosebleed. And that’s troublesome, to say the least.
14: TMS Ringsted
Current league standing: 14
Photo: Evan Foto
Speaking of teams who can’t stop anything, not even a nosebleed. The defensive play from Ringsted so far this season has been abysmal. In their first three games, they conceded 120 goals! That’s exceptionally bad.
In the last four games, it looked a bit better, but still awful. And that’s why Ringsted, after seven games, have one point, following a surprising draw against Ribe-Esbjerg.
The upside for this team? Rasmus Graffe is playing at an extremely high level, scoring goals at will.
Now let’s fix that defence, Ringsted, or you’re playing in the second division next season.