“It’s starting to twitch,” says VFL coach Stefan Neff, before the first game of the boarding round. After all, it is one of two places to promote in the second German handball league and “at the end of this long round we want to be there!”
It was 174 days on Saturday that Eintracht played his last competitive match. For every team in every sport, it’s scary not to be allowed to play for about half a year. But the epidemic has frustrated the German Handball Federation and forced officials to adopt new tactics. Because one thing was out of the question from the start: Two Sports Climbers from League Three must be identified who will be able to compete in the second-highest home for handball next year. Thus came the promotion round to the second handball league consisting of 14 registered teams and divided into two northern and southern groups. In the northern season, Eintracht will meet with 1. VfL Potsdam, TuS Vinnhorst, Eintracht Hildesheim, HC Empor Rostock, TuS Spenge and MTV Braunschweig. “A tight group, but we will take it as it is,” Nef said, judging the lot. First, everyone plays one round against all, and the top four teams from each group advance and two finalists play in the knockout system, then both advance.
1. VfL Potsdam is the number one competitor for Yellow and Green. Coach Daniel Deutsch’s team consists of a very small squad and will participate in matches without worries. But they are also fighting for a promotion position and “want to account for as little as possible”. Thanks to the Olympic base, the Potsdam team has been able to train continuously on site and have increased in intensity in the past few weeks. The team, which, in cooperation with Fuchscher Berlin, could count on the favorites in the promotion round, started the season well with four wins from five matches. Only against fellow rival HC Empor Rostock achieved a narrow defeat.
Eintracht wants to present
“We are delighted to be able to enter the round with a match on our home soil,” Neff said on Saturday. The dress rehearsal against other competitors HSG Krefeld of the Southern Group was a hit this past Easter weekend. At 10:33 PM, they clearly prevailed in the end and was able to convince with a solid defensive performance. Against Potsdam, Jan Lars Gobats and Carsten Ridder, the latest injured players in the backcourt, are once again wanting to start with two points and hope that as many fans as possible can support us from home! “
Everything about the game
The match will start on Saturday at 7 pm. At 6:40 pm, we’ll be making the live switch from the arena to our commentator Dirk Müller, who will briefly share our fans on Facebook. The match is broadcasted only on Sportdeutschland at https://sportdeutschland.tv/handball-3-liga/vfl-aufstiegsrunde-gruppe-eintracht-hagen-1-potsdam. Immediately after the final whistle, Mark E-Fantalk will be held with Tobias Mahncke from the sidelines and the Facebook Coach Press Conference at www.facebook.com/vfleintrachthagen.
