With a handball lesson for the worst of the chasers, THW kiel has won its 18. German championship won.
Long before the final whistle, the black-and-white wave rolled through the arena: the serial champions had just dismantled second-placed rhein-neckar lowen, winning 31:25 (15:7) and capturing the next trophy after the cup. "Ole, ole, deutscher meister immer wieder, immer wieder THW," the fans sang and waved their scarves. They found, "oh how is that already!"
When the title coup was accomplished, coach alfred gislason took a deep breath. "It was a very difficult season," said the islander and had to endure the obligatory beer shower in front of the cameras of tv station sport1. "It was clear that what we achieved last year could not be repeated," said the coach. THW had dominated the bundesliga and had not conceded a single point. "The decisive factor was the hardiness. What was decisive was that we never let up."
Three days before the end of the season, the top-ranked team from kiel secured its next championship title in a largely impressive manner. No other bundesliga team is as successful as the am 4. February 1904 founded gymnastics club hassee-winterbek. The vfl gummersbach as the next best club brings it to twelve title wins in the bundesliga.
10,285 spectators in the sold-out sparkassen-arena rose from their seats minutes before the end of the game and celebrated coach gislason's team frenetically. The islander has led the exceptional team to its fourth championship title since taking over in 2008. Only in 2011 he had to give way to HSV.
The rhein-neckar lowen, who had title ambitions of their own, wanted to at least prolong the triumph of the north germans. "It would have been nice to spoil THW's championship celebration," right-wing defender patrick groetzki had announced earlier. It didn't work out that way, because the kiel team played as a cohesive unit. The guests had nothing to oppose the attack vortex, except for captain markus ahlm all players registered in the goal scorer list. "We are pleased that we have already managed to do it today. I think we played well too," said ahlm. Best THW thrower was marko vujin (7 goals).
Despite the defeat, the lowen team still has the best chance of finishing second at the end of the season, with 50:14 points. Third-placed are currently the fuchse berlin (47:15) after their success in the eastern duel against magdeburg. The SG flensburg-handewitt (46:14), which has played two games less than the rhein-neckar lowen, is fourth.
Meanwhile, serial winner THW kiel is on the way to its third triple. The championship trophy and DHB cup are secure for the north germans. June the trophae is to be added in the champions league. For this the kielers have to win on the 1. June in koln win the semifinal against HSV hamburg. In the other preliminary round match, favored FC barcelona and polish champion kielce face each other. Celebrations will not begin until after the final league match on 8. June. Then, as always, on kieler rathausplatz in front of thousands of fans.