November in the 2. Bundesliga was wild: top-game drama in Hagen, Dessau taking down the leaders, and two former mid-table sides – Lübeck and Potsdam – quietly winning every single league match. At the same time, traditional clubs like Essen, Krefeld and Oppenweiler are sliding into serious trouble. This is Power Rankings 2.Bundesliga with Hen Livgot.
Power Rankings is Hen Livgot 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.
Hen Livgot is a handball expert and licensed professional players’ agent.
Here are the 2.Bundesliga Power Rankings for November!
Movement of the month
• Biggest heater: VfL Lübeck-Schwartau, four wins from four and suddenly back in the promotion conversation.
• Giant-killer of the month: Dessau-Roßlauer HV 06, who stopped Hagen’s run and beat the then-leaders by six.
• Steepest slide: HSG Krefeld Niederrhein, four clear defeats and a defence leaking 40+ goals twice.
• Crisis watch: TuSEM Essen, no points, heavy losses – but at least a late sign of life against Lübeck.
1: SG BBM Bietigheim
Current league standing: 1
Four from four, including the biggest one: the 30–27 away win in Hagen where Bietigheim turned an early deficit into a controlled road victory and took back top spot. Iker Romero’s team now couples its usual attacking flow with a much stabler centre block around Nikola Vlahović, who kept Hagen’s back court under pressure, while back-court leader Jonathan Fischer again carried a good share of the goals in the top game.
Behind them, the goalkeepers did their job and the wings were efficient in transition. A narrow home success over Dormagen plus routine wins against Großwallstadt and in Krefeld made this look like a promotion favourite doing exactly what a promotion favourite should do. The schedule toughens in December, but right now Bietigheim are clearly the reference point of the league.
2: Dessau-Roßlauer HV 06
Current league standing: 5
The “Biber” produced the statement result of the month: 35–29 at home against league-leaders Hagen, in a match local media rightly framed as a Heimcoup. Under head coach Vanja Radić, Dessau looked organised and aggressive, with a defence that forced Hagen into long, nervous attacks and gave goalkeeper Philip Ambrosius enough protection to swing the game. In attack, the back court of Mika Schüler and Fritz-Leon Haake repeatedly cut through Hagen’s block and also carried big scoring loads in the other November games.
Add clear wins over HC Oppenweiler/Backnang and Großwallstadt plus an away draw in Hüttenberg, and you get a 3-1-0 record against opponents whose average position is mid-table, not bottom. This was a proper promotion-race month.
3: HC Elbflorenz 2006
Current league standing: 2
Elbflorenz dropped one point in Ferndorf, then simply destroyed people. A one-goal escape at HC Oppenweiler/Backnang was followed by a 41–24 home thrashing of Essen and a 43–27 demolition in Krefeld – hallmarks of a team that can run away from anyone when the attack clicks. In those blowouts, left-hander Timo Löser and back-court shooter Julius Dierberg took turns leading the scoring, while the goalkeepers gave André Haber the platform to keep pushing tempo for 60 minutes.
Off the court, the club locked in Löser until 2029, a strong signal that Haber can build around his left-handed scorer for the long term. The only caveat: most opponents were from the bottom third, so December’s fixtures against stronger sides will tell us if Dresden are truly on Bietigheim’s level.
4: VfL Lübeck-Schwartau
Current league standing: 10
If you only looked at the table, you’d miss how hot Lübeck are. Four league wins – Ludwigshafen at home, tight away success in Ferndorf, then clear victories over Krefeld and in Essen. The Ferndorf game, decided in the last seconds, was classic “big-moment” stuff and seems to have reset the team’s confidence. In the home shoot-out against Krefeld and the away win in Essen, captain Janik Schrader repeatedly stepped up in crunch time, with Paul Holzhacker and the other wings finishing fast breaks once the comeback was on.
Behind that, goalkeeper Nils Conrad stabilised things after the shaky early season, and head coach David Röhrig finally has a rotation that looks settled. Strength of opposition was moderate, but you still have to win these pressure games when you’re stuck in the lower half. Lübeck did – every time.
5: 1. VfL Potsdam
Current league standing: 6
Quietly, Potsdam matched Lübeck’s perfect month: home win over Krefeld, away victories at Essen and HC Oppenweiler/Backnang, plus a home success against Dormagen. The pattern was similar each time – stretches of flowing attack from the young back court, then occasional lapses in defence that kept games open longer than they should. The Füchse-linked youngsters in the back line are learning how to manage leads and tempo over 60 minutes, rather than just playing in bursts.
Still, four wins are four wins. With strong links to Füchse Berlin and a young, hungry squad, Potsdam are starting to look less like a development project and more like a genuine top-six team.
6: HSG Nordhorn-Lingen
Current league standing: 7
Nordhorn’s November might be the most “grown-up” month they’ve played in years: league victories away at N-Lübbecke, then at home against Coburg and HC Oppenweiler/Backnang – businesslike, without fireworks. In the key win over Coburg, line player Mika Sajenev and defender Ian Hüter anchored a much more robust centre block, while playmaker Elmar Erlingsson and back-court shooter Maximilian Lux led the turnaround with a 7–0 run after the break.
On top of that came the dramatic 27–28 cup exit against Bundesliga side SC DHfK Leipzig, where Luca Tschentscher’s saves and Erlingsson’s goals helped Nordhorn come back from five down and even have a last attack to equalise. That performance against a top-tier defence says a lot about their ceiling.
7: HSC 2000 Coburg
Current league standing: 8
Coburg opened with a one-goal home win over Hüttenberg, then lost in Nordhorn – fair enough – before smashing Ludwigshafen 40–28 and grinding out a 25–22 win away in Ferndorf. The 40-goal show against the Eulen reminded everyone how quickly their attack can explode when the back court gets into rhythm: middle back Linus Helmersson and right wing Fynn Krone were heavily involved in that offensive surge, while Kreisläufer Zoran Röller constantly occupied defences.
Consistency is still missing, especially in defence and at the start of games, but this was a clear step up from the stuttering early autumn.
8: HBW Balingen-Weilstetten
Current league standing: 3
Three clear league wins – against Essen, Großwallstadt and Hüttenberg – plus a brave cup performance versus THW Kiel would normally put them higher. In that Pokal tie Balingen came back to level the game and even briefly led before losing 36–41 to the favourites, with the back court again showing it can score in bunches against a Bundesliga defence.
But the month ended with a sting: the last-second defeat in Dormagen. Add the goalkeeper carousel – Mateusz Kornecki leaving for Stuttgart, Daniel Rebmann coming the other way – and there’s a bit of turbulence around Matthias Flohr’s team right now, even if the underlying handball still points upwards.
9: VfL Eintracht Hagen
Current league standing: 4
Hagen started the month with that 40–39 thriller over Großwallstadt and a tough, controlled win in Dormagen. In those games the usual leaders in the back court again took a lot of responsibility, and the home crowd did its part. Then came the crash: clear defeat in Dessau and the top-game loss at home to Bietigheim after an early lead.
Pavel Prokopec’s side still looks physically strong and dangerous from nine metres, but the defensive discipline that carried them through October wobbled badly once the schedule tightened. November was a reminder that Hagen are contenders, not yet a finished promotion product.
10: TSV Bayer Dormagen
Current league standing: 12
On paper, 1-0-3 is poor. In reality, Dormagen were competitive in almost every match against brutal opposition – one-goal loss in Bietigheim, tight home defeat to Hagen, fighting performance vs Potsdam – and then the big scalp with the 30:29 over Balingen. In that upset, playmaker Felix Böckenholt not only hit the late winner but also underlined why the club moved to extend his contract.
Local reporting highlighted the emotional reaction from the team after that final buzzer. If Dormagen keep this level of intensity and Böckenholt continues to steer the attack that confidently, the table will move.
11: TuS Ferndorf
Current league standing: 13
Ferndorf had the worst possible November schedule: Elbflorenz, Lübeck, N-Lübbecke and Coburg – three promotion chasers and a traditional club. Two draws and two narrow defeats don’t look glamorous, but the underlying handball was solid. In several of those games, goalkeeper Can Adanir once more held them in contests they could easily have lost by five or six.
The club itself even emphasised that “even a brilliant Adanir wasn’t enough for anything to show on the scoreboard” after the Lübeck match. With a more human fixture list, Ferndorf should climb.
12: Die Eulen Ludwigshafen
Current league standing: 15
November was streaky: clear defeat in Lübeck, emotional home win over N-Lübbecke, then a heavy beating in Coburg. The Eulen still look like a team searching for identity after several squad changes – some good spells with quick-transition handball, but too many technical errors and gaps on the line when pressure hits.
Right now, they’re just doing enough to stay out of the bottom two in these rankings. The home crowd is still giving strong backing, but individual leaders will have to step up more clearly if Ludwigshafen want to move back towards mid-table.
13: TuS N-Lübbecke
Current league standing: 14
Lübbecke’s month never really settled: home loss to Nordhorn, narrow defeat in Ludwigshafen, two draws (Ferndorf away, Hüttenberg away) and finally a first win only in round 13. The seven-metre reliability of right-hander Tim Wieling helped avoid total disaster in a couple of tight finishes, but overall the performance level was far from what people in Lübbecke expect.
The coaching change before the international break hasn’t yet produced a clear bounce. They avoided a crisis, but nothing more.
14: TV 05/07 Hüttenberg
Current league standing: 9
The table says upper mid-table; the November eye test says something else. Hüttenberg dropped a one-goal game in Coburg, conceded 36 in Balingen, were held at home by Dessau and then lost a key relegation-six-pointer to N-Lübbecke. The structure in defence was fragile whenever opponents raised the tempo, and the attack struggled to generate clean chances from the back court against better-organised blocks.
Too many soft goals, too little punch from nine metres – this was a worrying month for a club that actually has enough quality to sit higher.
15: TV Großwallstadt
Current league standing: 11
Four defeats, but context matters. Großwallstadt went toe-to-toe in the 39–40 shoot-out in Hagen and stayed competitive in Dessau and Bietigheim before running out of steam. For long stretches they matched top attacks, only to lose control in the last ten minutes when rotations got thinner.
The defence clearly isn’t at promotion level, yet the performances were better than a pure 0-0-4 would suggest – hence they sit above the absolute crisis clubs. If one or two leaders in the back court find more consistency, Großwallstadt can still stabilise around mid-table.
16: HC Oppenweiler/Backnang
Current league standing: 18
Still no points in November, but also no collapse: six-goal loss in Dessau, one-goal heartbreaker at home to Elbflorenz, then respectable defeats to Nordhorn and Potsdam. In their home games the promoted side often hung in until the final five minutes, with the back court and line players doing enough to keep the arena alive.
For a newly promoted team with one of the smallest budgets in the league, the level is acceptable – they’re competing, just not closing games. That has to change fast if they want to give themselves a real survival chance.
17: TuSEM Essen
Current league standing: 16
Essen were on the wrong end of some ugly numbers: -17 in Balingen, -17 in Dresden, -7 at home to Potsdam. Only the two-goal loss to in-form Lübeck on the final November weekend showed the old TuSEM fight. Head coach Daniel Haase is trying to keep the group calm, but the repeated collapses away from home are clearly wearing on confidence.
The young back court can score in phases, yet defensively the team leaked far too many easy goals in transition and after turnovers. December now becomes a mental test as much as a tactical one.
18: HSG Krefeld Niederrhein
Current league standing: 17
Krefeld are bottom here because they were rarely close. They did score 34 goals in Potsdam, but then conceded 32 in Lübeck, 32 at home to Bietigheim and finally 43 against Elbflorenz – that last one felt like a mismatch from the first minute. In several of those games, back-court scorer Jörn Persson and line player Niklas Ingenpaß still found ways to hit the net, but the defensive structure around them simply fell apart too often.
Unless the defence tightens up dramatically and leaders like Persson and Ingenpaß get more support, their stay in the league will be short.
Team of the month: VfL Lübeck-Schwartau
Lübeck put together the most impressive run of November:
• 32–25 at home against Ludwigshafen
• 28–27 away in Ferndorf
• 38–31 against Krefeld after a big second-half comeback
• 30–28 away at TuSEM Essen – the fourth win in a row, against a team considered strong on home court.
Local media are talking about “the fourth consecutive win” and noting that Lübeck have taken 12:4 points from their recent run of games – a clear sign of a team that has found its confidence and is starting to look upwards. Captain Janik Schrader was the constant in all four wins, supported by reliable finishing from wings like Paul Holzhacker and solid goalkeeping from Nils Conrad whenever the defence did its job.
Player of the month: Janik Schrader (VfL Lübeck-Schwartau)
The captain was everywhere in November – driving Lübeck’s four-win streak with big goals and even bigger moments. He hit heavy numbers against both Krefeld and TuSEM Essen, repeatedly turning tight games their way, while steering the attack for long stretches and taking responsibility in the last minutes. Not just volume scoring, but real game-changing impact in every round.
Autor: Hen Livgot
Hen Livgot is a handball expert and licensed professional players’ agent