Here is the Power Rankings Bundesliga with Ola Selby of GoHandball, where the performances, not the points, are at the base of the rankings.
Power Rankings is our ranking of the teams during the month that has passed. In other words, it’s a table reflecting how the teams have performed only during December.
Here are the Bundesliga Power Rankings for December!
1: MT Melsungen
Current Bundesliga standing: 1
Power rankings in November: 1
Melsungen has, quite clearly to be frank, been the best team in the Bundesliga all season long. And the month of December was no exception when the league leaders won five out of five games.
Sure, they only played one real top team in Hannover-Burgdorf, but they still pulled out wins in all their games. The most impressive part? They have that championship-caliber where they win games in different ways. Their floor has been raised compared to last season, and they won five games in December without top games from their main man in Nebojsa Simic.
Consider me impressed, Melsungen.
2: THW Kiel
Current Bundesliga standing: 3
Power rankings in November: 7
A great month by THW Kiel. I would even suggest that Kiel looked better in December than they have done all season. They won five out of five games, and they did so largely because their defensive play was vastly improved.
33 goals were conceded against Eisenach, but that was the only game in which Kiel conceded 30 goals or more. The most impressive win came against Hannover, a game Kiel won 28–24. They needed a win in that game, and they needed to win a game thanks to their defense, not in spite of it.
Kiel’s best and most important player, besides Andreas Wolff, is Eric Johansson. The Swede has played great handball all season long, and only Luca Witzke has more assists than the left back this season.
3: Füchse Berlin
Current Bundesliga standing: 2
Power rankings in November: 3
Started the month by defeating an already deflated Potsdam. In that game, Mathias Gidsel and Lasse Andersson did not have to dominate in order for Berlin to win. Then, against Magdeburg, it looked like Füchse would destroy the reigning champions, having a six-goal lead at the half. But Berlin forgot how to play in the second half and had to settle for a draw.
After that game, if we leave the loss against Flensburg out (that one-goal loss must have stung), Berlin dominated. Big wins against Lemgo, Göppingen, and Gummersbach ended the month, and Mathias Gidsel was the best player on the floor in all of those games. The Dane is the current top scorer in the Bundesliga, and no one is surprised.
4: TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
Current Bundesliga standing: 4
Power rankings in November: –
The main thing about this Hannover-Burgdorf team is their attacking play. They play exciting and fun handball to watch, and they score a ton of goals. Sure, only 24 goals against Kiel and 23 against Melsungen, but that is completely fine when we compare teams.
Other than that, they managed to score at least 30 goals in the rest of the four games, winning them all clearly. Justus Fischer had a great game against Löwen, scoring ten goals, and Joel Birlehm had 11 saves and 50 in save percentage against Erlangen, but (once again) this was Renärs Uscincs month.
The right back is playing at a different level than the rest of the team. And to top of the month, he scored the match-winner in a tight game against Leipzig.
5: SC Magdeburg
Current Bundesliga standing: 6
Power rankings in November: 6
For tragic reasons, Magdeburg played a couple of games less in December than they were meant to. But if we focus on handball alone, Magdeburg had a pretty good month.
They came back from a huge deficit against Berlin away, in a game where now injured (as is Omar Ingi Magnusson) Oscar Bergendahl scored the equalizer with 37 seconds left. In the other three games, Magdeburg won by huge margins (nine goals, nine goals, and eleven goals).
Sergey Hernandez continues to perform in goal, and in the absence of Magnusson, Albin Lagergren has shown his qualities.
6: SG Flensburg-Handewitt
Current Bundesliga standing: 5
Power rankings in November: 2
Was it too early to fire Nicolej Krickau? It is starting to look like it. Sure, Flensburg has not performed as well as expected during the season, and for some reason, Jim Gottfridsson and Kay Smits have not seen enough playing time, but it still looks like a premature decision by the Flensburg front office to fire the Dane.
In December, Flensburg won three games (the one against Berlin being the impressive one), drew one (almost lost that one, but Emil Jakobsen scored the equalizer in the last second of the game), and lost one (Löwen was simply better in that game).
Positives for Flensburg? Gottfridsson and Smits have looked good since the manager change. And Emil Jakobsen has decided to sign a new contract with the club. But it must have been a huge blow for Flensburg that team captain Johannes Golla returns to Melsungen next season.
7: Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Current Bundesliga standing: 7
Power rankings in November: 5
December was an up-and-down month for Rhein-Neckar Löwen. Three out of their five games came against top teams, and they lost two of them. Not good, but it’s not a complete catastrophe, either. The win against Flensburg was impressive. A game in which Mikael Appelgren showed his class in the first half, and David Späth closed up shop in the second half.
The losses against Hannover and Magdeburg are what they are. Ivan Martinovic was perhaps the only player in those games who delivered (16 goals and eight assists in total in those games).
Löwen at least ended the month in a great way, defeating Stuttgart and Wetzlar.
8: TVB Stuttgart
Current Bundesliga standing: 15
Power rankings in November: –
The team that impressed me the most in December. And probably the team that is most satisfied (except for Melsungen) after the month of December.
Stuttgart won four games in December and only lost one (against Löwen). Just that fact is impressive. But what makes December so great for Stuttgart is the fact that they defeated teams that are in the same region of the table as they are. Sure, to say that Eisenach is in the same region is a stretch, but to defeat Eiesenach 29–25 at their home court is impressive.
And to win against Göppingen, Bietigheim, and Potsdam in the same month is nothing else but uplifting for this Stuttgart side. Players that have stood out for Stuttgart in December? Miljan Vujovic, Lenny Rubin, and Daniel Fernandez. Always Daniel Fernandez.
9: VfL Gummersbach
Current Bundesliga standing: 9
Power rankings in November: –
Julian Köster is back for Gummersbach, and that is something for all Gummersbach fans to be grateful for. But only two out of ten points in December is not good enough for a team that has the ambitions that Gummersbach has.
I know that they played Magdeburg, Melsungen, and Berlin. But to lose against Wetzlar away is what made this month terrible for Gummersbach.
Hopefully, for Gummersbach, the break in January is exactly what they need.
10: ThSV Eisenach
Current Bundesliga standing: 8
Power rankings in November: 4
Marko Grgic, how I adore you. Against Kiel, the superstar in the making scored 14 goals, assisted another four, and had one steal plus one shot he blocked. What a game! And against Hamburg, he scored the winner in the last second of the game, his ninth goal of the evening.
But that is pretty much where the fun ends for Eisenach in December, a team that came back to earth a bit after their sensational November. Two wins and two losses are okay. And the fact that a lot of us were shocked when Eisenach lost against Stuttgart says a lot about how far this team has come in terms of expectations.
11: Handball Sport Verein Hamburg
Current Bundesliga standing: 11
Power rankings in November: 10
I know that I have complained quite a lot about Hamburg in this column, calling them boring. And I still believe that. But I have to give this team their flowers as well when flowers are deserved.
This is a team that (almost) always wins the games they are “supposed” to win. They lost against Eisenach by a goal in the last second, but if we talk about the rest of the games in December, they played (in order) Leipzig, Melsungen, Bietigheim, and Flensburg.
They won two (Leipzig and Bietigheim), lost one (Melsungen), and got an impressive point in one (Flensburg). You know what you get with this team, no doubt about it. And Leif Tissier, a player that I have hailed in this column, has signed for Hannover next season. Great for him and great for Hannover!
12: Frisch auf Göppingen
Current Bundesliga standing: 14
Power rankings in November: 12
Two wins and three losses for Göppingen in December. In other words, a decent month. They started the month in disappointment, losing to Stuttgart. But they responded in great fashion, handing Lemgo the business, winning 29–22 after the Swedish players in the team scored 19 of the 29 goals. And they followed that up by defeating Wetzlar after a great game by Oscar Sunnefeldt.
After that, they lost against Berlin and Melsungen, and no one would have expected it to go any different. But if Göppingen wants to avoid being involved in the battle to avoid relegation, they can’t lose many more games against teams like Stuttgart (even though Stuttgart was red hot in December).
13: SC DHFK Leipzig
Current Bundesliga standing: 12
Power rankings in November: 8
Only two out of ten points for Leipzig in December, and they played Hamburg, Wetzlar, Kiel, Potsdam (their only win), and Hannover. But still, I think that Leipzig had a pretty good month. Why? They were close in all the games. I mean, losing four out of five games and their goal difference in December being plus 3, that says it all.
They should have won more games than they did, and they need to perform better in the closing minutes of the games, but losing by one goal twice and two goals twice at least tells me that they are competitive.
14: TBV Lemgo
Current Bundesliga standing: 10
Power rankings in November: 9
Constantin Möstl is the number one goalkeeper in the Bundesliga so far this season, at least when we are focusing on save percentage. But in December, the Austrian was not as great as the previous months (he still had a few top performances, though), and then Lemgo lost four games and only got one win.
Lemgo has to play better attacking handball. They scored 22 goals against Hannover, 22 goals against Göppingen, 21 goals against Berlin, 28 goals against Erlangen (not very hard, to be honest), and 22 goals against Kiel.
My point? Möstl needs help from his teammates!
15: HSG Wetzlar
Current Bundesliga standing: 13
Power rankings in November: 11
Stefan Cavor, Dominik Mappes, and Till Klimpke. Those three players had great games for Wetzlar in December, but they were far too alone to perform.
Wetzlar lost three games in December (Melsungen, Göppingen, and Löwen). It’s not horrible, but it’s not great either (especially Göppingen). Then they won two (Leipzig, a bit lucky) and Gummersbach (great performances by Mappes and Cavor).
Two more points in December, and it would have been considered a great month by Wetzlar. Now? Decent.
16: HC Erlangen
Current Bundesliga standing: 17
Power rankings in November: 13
They are not exactly playing champagne handball in Erlangen this season. As a matter of fact, Erlangen are struggling, and they are struggling badly, especially in attack, where they look bleak at best.
Does Erlangen have their own ideas when it comes to attacking play? Or have the players lost belief in the game plans? Either way, it’s not looking great at the moment. 25, 24, 25, and 19 goals says it all.
In December, they got one point at home against Bietigheim, but they would have needed more. Then, three losses against Gummersbach, Hannover, and Lemgo.
17: Bietigheim
Current Bundesliga standing: 16
Power rankings in November: –
After a promising start to the season, newcomer Bietigheim has lost its stride in the last couple of months, December being no exception. Only one point out of twelve possible points is not great for a team that would have needed more.
In their defense, they played and lost against Magdeburg, Kiel, and Flensburg. But surely they would have hoped for more than one point in two games against Erlangen and Stuttgart?
A positive for Bietigheim? Gonzalo Perez Arce is looking interesting on the right wing.
18: VfL Potsdam
Current Bundesliga standing: 18
Power rankings in November: 14
It’s still looking quite grim for Potsdam. December was no different. Five games = five losses. Clearly, they were the worst team in the Bundesliga in December and this season in total.