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 February.
Here are the Bundesliga Power Rankings for February!
1: Füchse Berlin
Current Bundesliga standing: 4
Power rankings in December: 3
It wasn’t as if Füchse Berlin steamrolled through all their opponents in February. That’s not how it works in the Bundesliga. And sure, the points dropped against Lemgo (the match ended 25–25) were quite unnecessary. It took a relatively late equalizer from Nils Liechtlein for Berlin to even get a point.
But otherwise, there was a thrashing of (former) partner club Potsdam with a 36–19 victory and a dominant performance against Flensburg (36–31). What do both matches have in common? Mathias Gidsel was excellent. Of course. The Dane has signed a new contract with the “foxes” and scored a total of 20 goals in February. In the two victories, he also received strong support from Lasse Andersson, Dejan Milosavljev, and Tim Freihöfer.
However, there is no doubt about who is Berlin’s main man. Or who is the best player in the Bundesliga.
2: MT Melsungen
Current Bundesliga standing: 1
Power rankings in December: 1
I was almost about to write “the usual” about Melsungen this season. The Melsungen machine. But the machine actually stuttered a bit in February. Sure, comfortable victories over the bottom teams Göppingen and Stuttgart, but also a loss to Magdeburg. Am I being too harsh calling it a glitch in the machine when Melsungen lost awat to the reigning champions? Perhaps. But the expectations for this Melsungen team have been raised.
All in all, it was another strong month for Melsungen, who remain in pole position in the race for the league title. Nebojsa Simic was on fire as usual in goal with 13 saves against both Göppingen and Stuttgart. And Ian Barrufet is really solid on the left wing and in defense. The top spot in the Power rankings would probably have been theirs, and my overall impression of Melsungen stronger, if they had secured a point against an injury-hit Magdeburg.
3: TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
Current Bundesliga standing: 2
Power rankings in December: 4
Hannover-Burgdorf are masters at winning tight matches. That’s been the case all season, and it was the same in February. A 24–23 win over Leipzig after Renärs Uscins (who else?) scored the decisive goal in the final moments, and Joel Birlehm saved 15 shots throughout the match. Then, of course, a big win against poor Stuttgart, where Uscins was once again pivotal with twelve goals and six assists.
The month ended with another tight match, this time against Wetzlar. Despite Hannover only managing seven saves throughout the game, they managed to win 34–32. In that match, for once, it wasn’t Uscins carrying the team, but instead Jonathan Edvardsson with his six goals and four assists.
4: THW Kiel
Current Bundesliga standing: 3
Power rankings in December: 2
There are mainly two players carrying the load for Kiel these days. When Emil Madsen has slowed down a bit after his brilliant start to the season, the offense has, for the most part, revolved around Eric Johansson, who is a completely different player for his club team than he is for the Swedish national team. Johansson is scoring goals in abundance and also contributing a lot by drawing defensive attention and finding open teammates.
Additionally, Kiel almost never loses when Andreas Wolff is performing well in goal. Except against Wetzlar—Kiel loses to them no matter what. It’s safe to say that Wetzlar is Kiel’s bogey team, and when the teams met in February, it resulted in another loss, 25–27. But aside from that match, Kiel looks pretty good at the moment, largely thanks to the two aforementioned players. Also positive for Kiel, especially in the long run, is that Elias Ellefsen a Skipagötu is getting more playing time, and importantly, he isn’t benched every time he makes a mistake.
5: SC Magdeburg
Current Bundesliga standing: 6
Power rankings in December: 5
Injuries, injuries, constantly these injuries. That’s been the story all season for the reigning champions, who, despite it all, keep winning matches (and are still in the hunt for first place, having played fewer games than their rivals). But in the midst of all the misery, at least Felix Claar is back on the court.
The world’s best playmaker didn’t play every match in February, but looked strong against Göppingen when he returned. And that’s exactly what Magdeburg needs. Two wins and one loss (the loss came away to Kiel) is a solid month for a thin squad.
6: SG Flensburg-Handewitt
Current Bundesliga standing: 5
Power rankings in December: 6
There have been rumors that Simon Pytlick, Flensburg’s best player, might move to his friend Mathias Gidsel’s Füchse Berlin. That would, of course, be devastating for both Flensburg (losing their best player to a rival) and for all the teams in the league that would have to face the unstoppable duo. But for now, Pytlick is still playing for Flensburg, and he’s almost always performing well (although he’s currently injured).
Flensburg, however, didn’t have a super strong February with two wins and one loss. The wins came against Erlangen (not very difficult) and Gummersbach (a bit more impressive). The loss came against Berlin in a match where Flensburg was never really close. And in that match, perhaps the league title slipped away for this somewhat shaky Flensburg team.
7: VfL Gummersbach
Current Bundesliga standing: 8
Power rankings in December: 9
One team that had a strong February is Gummersbach. Three wins in four matches, with the only loss coming away against Flensburg – that’s still great work. They have a lot to thank Julian Köster for. Just look at this stat line:
36–29 against Stuttgart: Köster had eight goals, three assists, two blocked shots, and one steal.
30–35 against Flensburg: Köster had seven goals and five assists.
37–30 against Hamburg: Köster had seven goals and two assists.
And let’s not forget that he’s also a fantastic defender. I’d also like to mention another player from Gummersbach, Miro Schluroff. The left back scored ten goals against Löwen and nine goals against Hamburg.
8: ThSV Eisenach
Current Bundesliga standing: 9
Power rankings in December: 10
Mathias Gidsel, Felix Claar, Eric Johansson, Simon Pytlick, and Julian Köster, you’ll have to forgive me – Bundesliga’s hottest player right now is without a doubt Marko Grgic. I just mentioned some impressive stats for Köster, but take a look at Grgic’s numbers from February:
Eisenach-Lemgo 34-31: Ten goals and three assists.
Göppingen-Eisenach 31–27: Eleven goals and four assists.
Eisenach-Leipzig 34–34: Eleven goals, six assists, one blocked shot, and two steals.
Wetzlar-Eisenach 30–31: Thirteen goals and five assists. Assist on the match-winning goal.
So, a total of 45 goals and 18 assists in four matches. Insane!
9: Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Current Bundesliga standing: 7
Power rankings in December: 7
Ivan Martinovic has had knee problems since (at least) the World Championship in January, and as a result, he has either not been himself or, in the end, has not been able to play and had to rest. This has affected Löwen, who still managed to take five out of eight points even without their mercurial player in form, but they haven’t performed as well as they have in some other months.
The most important thing for Löwen was probably the end of the month, where David Moré scored the game-winning goal in the last second against Göppingen, a goal that secured a 29–28 win and likely brought some calm and stability to the team.
10: Hamburg Handball
Current Bundesliga standing: 11
Power rankings in December: 11
Should I ramble on about the boring Hamburg again? No, I actually thought I’d skip that (even though I did sneak in the word “boring”). Hamburg won two matches in February (against Erlangen and Bietigheim), drew one (against Löwen), and lost one (against Gummersbach). A month where they did what they were supposed to, in other words. Maybe we should replace the word “boring” with “reliable”?
Against Löwen, Jacob Lassen equalized with 13 seconds left, his ninth goal of the match. Against Bietigheim, Andreas Magaard scored the game-winner with 14 seconds remaining. So, the draw could just as easily have been a loss, and the win could just as easily have been a draw. But Hamburg gets the job done, and they deserve credit for that.
11: TBV Lemgo
Current Bundesliga standing: 10
Power rankings in December: 14
Just like Hamburg, Lemgo won two matches, drew one, and lost one. That’s fine. There’s not much to say about Lemgo’s February, as it went pretty much as expected. When Constantin Möstl gets solid support from his defense, he’s almost always good. Like against Stuttgart, where he completely shut things down in the second half, turning a 13–13 halftime score into a 26–23 victory for Lemgo.
In general, Lemgo is a team that’s hard to score against. Letting in just 25 goals against Berlin is impressive, and even though Potsdam is Potsdam, Lemgo only conceded 21 goals in that match. The anomaly came against Eisenach, where they let in 34 goals. But then again, Marko Grgic plays for Eisenach, and he can score from the locker room.
All in all, it was a pretty solid month for Lemgo, playing about as expected for their league position.
12: SC DHFK Leipzig
Current Bundesliga standing: 12
Power rankings in December: 13
Another team that varies in their performances between their maximum level and a slightly lower level…
The highlights in February came against Potsdam (of course), where Leipzig won 32–19, thanks to nine goals from Lukas Binder and a 40% save rate from Domenico Ebner (including three saves on three penalty shots!). Then they earned a good point against Eisenach after Luca Witzke equalized with his thirteenth goal with less than a minute left.
Against Hannover (loss 23–24), they probably should have taken a point, but Leipzig couldn’t manage to equalize despite having over a minute after Hannover’s go-ahead goal.
13: HSG Wetzlar
Current Bundesliga standing: 13
Power rankings in December: 15
Let’s start with the win against Kiel. I shouldn’t be surprised, as Wetzlar pretty much always beats the “zebras.” But they did it again, and this time, much thanks to Till Klimpke in goal, who saved 17 shots and ended up with a 41% save rate.
Maybe Wetzlar should have even earned more points in February? Sure, they won by one goal against Bietigheim, but the one-goal loss at home to Eisenach felt unnecessary. This could have been a standout month for Wetzlar, but they had to settle for four points out of six and three pretty solid performances.
14: Frisch auf Göppingen
Current Bundesliga standing: 14
Power rankings in December: 12
Shall we start with the positive or the negative? Let’s start with the sunshine. There was a two-point win against Eisenach, and Ludvig Hallbäck continues to impress.
The negative? The rest. Three losses. Not inferior in performance in any of the matches (okay, maybe a bit against Melsungen), but still hard to secure points. It’s starting to look a bit concerning down in the relegation zone for Göppingen.
15: TVB Stuttgart
Current Bundesliga standing: 15
Power rankings in December: 8
Kai Häfner continues to deliver: five goals and eight assists against Gummersbach, and five goals plus ten assists against Melsungen. But despite the right backs strong performances, Stuttgart couldn’t manage to win in February. It ended up being four straight losses, but it’s important to remember that in three of those matches (Gummersbach, Hannover, and Melsungen), they were clear underdogs.
Where they could have expected a better performance – and perhaps two points – was at home against Lemgo. But they only managed to score 23 goals, and, above all, a dreadful second half ruined the game for them.
16: HC Erlangen
Current Bundesliga standing: 17
Power rankings in December: 16
The struggle continues for Erlangen, who, after three losses in three matches in February, have now fired coach Martin Schwalb. Whether this will make a difference remains to be seen, but allow me to be skeptical. I understand that it’s easier to fire a coach than 18 players, but the problems in Erlangen seem to be deeper and more widespread than just the coach.
It’s starting to smell like 2.Bundesliga for this team.
17: Bietigheim
Current Bundesliga standing: 16
Power rankings in December: 17
Bietigheim isn’t actually a bad team. In fact, they’re a significantly better team than Potsdam. But Bietigheim has a hard time winning tight matches, and as a result, their league position reflects that.
In February, for example, they lost by one goal at home to Wetzlar and by one goal away to Hamburg. And of course, those kinds of losses take their toll on the team.
18: VfL Potsdam
Current Bundesliga standing: 18
Power rankings in December: 18
I’m getting a bit tired of writing about how difficult Potsdam has it when it comes to scoring goals. I’ll just leave it at this: Potsdam scored 59 goals in three matches in February. You don’t need to be a math genius to understand that goal average and why Potsdam is where they are in the table.