Bergischer HC

Bergischer HC

Full name	Bergischer Handball Club 06 e. V.
Abbreviation (s)	BHC
Nickname (s)	The Lions
Founded	2006
Club colors	Blue White
Hall	Uni-Halle ( Wuppertal ) Klingenhalle ( Solingen ) ISS Dome ( Düsseldorf )
Places	2.982 (handball) university hall 2,491 Klingenhalle 11,512 (handball) ISS Dome
executive Director	Philipp Tychy (Marketing / Sales) Jörg Föste (sports)
Trainer	Sebastian Hinze
league	Handball Bundesliga
2019/20
rank	13th place
DHB Cup	Round of 16
Website	bhc06.de
home Away

The Bergische Handball-Club 06 ( Bergischer HC for short or simply BHC ) is a joint professional handball club of the Bergisch cities of Wuppertal and Solingen . The first team to which the Bergisches Land gives its name has been playing in the handball Bundesliga again since the 2018/19 season after a year-long stay in the 2nd division .

history

Background - time before 2006 and foundation

After the Bergisch sports clubs (after VfL Gummersbach ), LTV Wuppertal and SG Solingen , which had always had their greatest successes in indoor handball in the late 1990s and early 2000s with a few seasons in the Bundesliga , suddenly there was a gaping after 2002 a big gap in top handball in the mountains.

After four years in the German upper house, the LTV was promptly passed through to the regional league after the Bundesliga relegation in 2001 (still under the name HC Wuppertal ) and was forced to renew its structures. This measure brought them another stay in the 2nd Bundesliga in 2004 , but this was not very successful, because after only two years they had to return to the regional league in 2006 .

The SG Solingen , which is formed by the PSVg Jahn Solingen and the Sportring Solingen-Höhscheid-Widdert , was able to hold the class for only two years after the first promotion to the Bundesliga in 2000 and rose in 2002 through a defeat in the relegation against the Wilhelmshaven HV again. In the following seasons in the 2nd Bundesliga, attempts were unsuccessful to move up again, before the SGS's worst season by far in years ended with 14th place in the 2005/06 season and the Bergisches Land, which had been with in previous years Bundesliga handball was spoiled, now had to be content with the relegation battle in the second division.

In view of this rapid drop in performance of both teams, SG Solingen and Stefan Adam , the manager at the time of LTV Wuppertal and later Bergischer HC, entered into secret merger negotiations during the 2005/06 season. This ultimately resulted in an agreement, which was categorically rejected by officials and fans of the Langerfeld gymnastics club. Thus Adam could only realize a partial merger, which was limited to the transfer of the management, the squad and the main sponsor of the LTV to the Solingen rival. The LTV, shaken by these elementary losses, was able to set up a regional league team, but this was not competitive, which meant the direct crash into the fourth-class league. Today the first men's team of LTV Wuppertal plays in the fifth-class Oberliga Niederrhein.

For the SG Solingen, however, this meant the renaming and thus the conversion to the Bergische Großverein, which is intended to attract viewers from the entire Bergisch city triangle ( Wuppertal - Solingen - Remscheid ). Since then, the venues of the BHC have been the Wuppertal Uni-Halle (until 2011 the Sonnborn Bayer-Halle ) and the Solingen Klingenhalle , where the home games are divided as much as possible.

2006 to 2011 - promotion battle in the Bundesliga lower house

Already the first season of the newly formed Bergisch HC had the clear objective of promotion to the 1st handball league. However, the "lions" failed again and again in the following seasons. In the first three years after the merger, you always had to be content with places behind the promotion or relegation zone. It was different in the 2009/10 season , when they finished second after a strong season - only behind TSG Friesenheim - and thus qualified for the Bundesliga relegation. There you met the second of the north group, TV Emsdetten , who avoided the Münsteraner Berg Fidel-Halle for his home game and won there with 33:27. In the second leg in the Wuppertal Bayer-Halle, the BHC had to run behind a long time. They finally won the game 37:36, but of course this was not enough for a move into the second round, in which the TV Emsdetten just failed at TSV Dormagen and also remained in the second division. The same fate seemed to await the Bergische until the last day of the 2010/11 season . There they had to go to relegation-threatened EHV Aue on the last match day , while TV Hüttenberg , who had one point and a significantly better goal difference , had to compete with HG Saarlouis , who were also threatened with relegation . Hüttenberg was defeated in a tight game with 36:35 and thus Bergische HC had a great chance of promotion. The “lions” could use this with a nerve-wracking 22:25 away win and bring Bundesliga handball back to the Bergisches Land for the first time in nine years.

In 2010, the DHB Cup was also able to attract nationwide attention for the first time. After a round of 16 success against TSG Friesenheim, they reached the quarter-finals, in which they failed with 22:26 at Bundesliga club TuS N-Lübbecke . The success in the cup continued in the following year . In the third round, after a strong second half, in which they conceded only nine goals, they defeated the Bundesliga club HBW Balingen-Weilstetten 29:24. In the second round you were drawn again to a Bundesliga club. This time it was the top club Frisch Auf Göppingen that had to compete in the Solingen blade hall . In an exciting game that Bergische HC led for a long time, the "Löwen" only lost after extra time with 28:30.

2011 to 2016 - failure in the Bundesliga and promotion again

With the promotion to the Bundesliga, the BHC had to reorient itself on important levels. This did not apply to the squad, which was not completely turned inside out like at many other clubs, but was only specifically reinforced with relatively few players, but much more to the indoor situation in the Bergisches Land. Here the officials were confronted with the problem that both halls, in which the BHC had played its second division home games, were in many ways not suitable for the Bundesliga in their condition at the time. This was mainly due to the insufficient capacity, the lighting and the hall floor, but also to small or non-existent VIP areas and additional provisions, which were mainly due to the high television presence. Ultimately, the decision was made to give up the Bayer hall for the time being in favor of the larger university hall and to upgrade the blade hall for the Bundesliga at short notice.

In a playful way, the Bergische were able to look back on some passable appearances in the Hinserie of their first Bundesliga season . Although there were significantly more points on the minus side than on the plus side, but mainly due to important away wins against direct competitors for the non-relegation places and not least due to a euphoric 40:31 success against the established SC Magdeburg , in which Backcourt player Kenneth Klev scored ten goals, was 15th place at the turn of the year, which would have entitled to remain in the Bundesliga. However, this favorable starting position was lost again in the second half of the season due to numerous home defeats against beatable opponents and not least due to a playful rehabilitation of VfL Gummersbach . So the second class had to be started again.

In September 2012, managing director Stefan Adam announced that he would switch to the German record champions THW Kiel for the new year . Jörg Föste has been his successor since January 2013 , who, like Adam, is one of the founding members and the previous board.

With a 23:15 away win at HC Erlangen , BHC secured a direct return to the handball Bundesliga five game days before the end of the 2012/13 second division season . With a 21:18 win at TV 05/07 Hüttenberg on the penultimate game day, the second division championship was secured. In the first five games of the first division season 2013/14 , the BHC scored four wins in a row, including a 34:27 against the reigning Champions League winner HSV Hamburg . As a result, the team had only five more wins by the end of the season and was only able to secure relegation on the penultimate matchday with a 26:25 win at Füchse Berlin, fifth in the table .

In the following season 2014/15 , the club early in the season last long in the top half on, finished the season after only a few back round victories but on rank 14. The hitherto best season of BHC played 2015/16 than one in the league - also thanks to the withdrawal of HSV Hamburg - reached rank 12 and made it to the semi-finals of the DHB Cup .

2016 to today - Another relegation, direct relegation and record season

After finishing 12th in the previous season, the team started the 2016/17 season with the aim of further establishing themselves in the 1st Bundesliga and having as little to do with the relegation battle. After a positive preparation, they were able to successfully qualify for the round of 16 in the 1st round of the DHB Cup with wins against TV Emsdetten and HSG Krefeld . However, the start in the Bundesliga failed initially, the first 4 games were lost. Viktor Szilágyi , who ended his career at the end of the preseason and took over the post of sporting director at BHC, surprisingly returned as a player on matchday five due to numerous injuries in the team. The away game in Wetzlar and the home game against Minden were promptly won, and in the away game at Göppingen they won a point with a 26:26. However, these should remain the final points of the BHC for a long time. The entire first half of the season there were no further points won, so after the first half of the season they were bottom of the table with 5:29 points. They were also eliminated from Balingen in the round of 16 of the DHB Cup.

Because of this negative series, coach Sebastian Hinze came more and more into criticism. During the winter break, however, those responsible decided to hold onto the trainer. As a requirement for the second half of the season 8 wins were issued to create the league. After suffering a bitter 26:35 home defeat against relegation competitor TVB Stuttgart at the beginning of the second half of the season, the next points were celebrated on matchday 20 with the surprising 29:30 away win at the reigning World Cup winner Füchse Berlin . However, this victory had to be paid dearly with a rupture of the anterior and posterior cruciate ligament in Viktor Szilágyi, whose career was hereby finally ended. By the end of the season, the specified 8 victories with further victories against Coburg , Lemgo , Göppingen , Erlangen , Balingen-Weilstetten , Gummersbach and Hannover-Burgdorf could be achieved, there was also a draw against Wetzlar . In total, the BHC collected 17 points in the second half of the season, so that at the end of the season a point yield of 22:46 was a better one than in the previous season. Due to the poorer goal difference to VfL Gummersbach with the same number of points, however, in the end, despite achieving the specified eight wins, the team had to start the second division. The decision was made on the last day of the match, when the BHC had to play at home against Hannover and Lemgo against Gummersbach. Due to the significantly better goal difference, Gummersbach was actually saved before the match day, Lemgo was one point ahead of the BHC in 15th place. He did his homework with a 32:24 home win, but could no longer prevent the relegation due to the simultaneous 32:31 success of Lemgo.

A change in personnel was initiated for the 2017/18 season . Seven new players were signed with Csaba Szücs , Max Darj , Milan Kotrč , Bastian Rutschmann , Maximilian-Leon Bettin , Linus Arnesson and Leoš Petrovský , while Björgvin Páll Gústavsson , Moritz Preuss , Maximilian Hermann , Alexander Hermann , Nils Artmann , Christian Hoße , Ace Jonovski , Uroš Vilovski and Pouya Norouzi Nezhad nine players left the club. The preparation for the new season went well. In the training camp in Styria, the Austrian Bundesliga club HSG Remus Bernbach / Köflach was clearly beaten with 32:19. At the preparatory tournament in Hessian Linden ( Linden Cup ) a first exclamation mark could be set with victories against the first division HSG Wetzlar (29:26) and the promoted TV Hüttenberg (29:22). Only the later tournament winner SC DHfK Leipzig had to admit defeat with 24:20. The highlight of the preparation was the test match against the reigning Champions League winner RK Vardar Skopje , who was defeated in the Solingen Blade Hall with 27:25. The final four tournament for the first round of the DHB Cup marked the start of the competitive season . With victories against third division Leutershausen (34:25) and first division TV Hüttenberg (26:22), which had already been defeated in the Linden Cup, the BHC qualified for the round of 16, in which, however, it was narrowly defeated by HSG Wetzlar with 27:28 and thus retired from the cup.

The start of the new second division season was successful with a 26:23 home win against newly promoted HC Elbflorenz from Dresden . After winning the first 15 league games for themselves - which meant a start record for the single-track 2nd division - they only lost the first point in the 25:30 home defeat on matchday 16 against VfL Lübeck-Schwartau accept. The first half of the season was completed without further defeat with 36: 2 points.

The BHC started the second half of the season with five more wins, before losing the home game against ASV Hamm-Westphalia 25:27 on the 25th matchday and thus suffered the second defeat of the season. The next six games could be won again and already on the 31st matchday the BHC made the direct re-promotion perfect with a 35:22 home win over the Wilhelmshaven HV . The championship was secured on matchday 34 with a 31:27 home win against direct rivals SG BBM Bietigheim . In the last season games, the Lions did not lose any more points and were able to set a new record for the single-track second division with 70: 6 points.

The Bergische HC started the 2018/19 season with a successful preparation. During the training camp in Köflach , Austria , both HSG Remus Bärnbach / Köflach (41:14) and the reigning Austrian champion Fivers Margareten (39:23) were clearly beaten. In addition, they won the Linden Cup with victories over HSG Wetzlar (28:26), HSC 2000 Coburg (27:22) and TV Hüttenberg (24:23) . The Lions suffered the only defeat in preparation in the final of the Harting Cup against GWD Minden (26:28) after they had won the semifinals 30:27 the day before against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf .

The competitive season began for the Bergische Löwen with the "First Four" tournament in the DHB Cup , which was held in Pfullingen. The semi-finals (1st round) played the BHC against third division HG Saarlouis and won the game with a 36:11 win. In the final (2nd round) they met the host and third division club VfL Pfullingen , who had surprisingly won in the other semi-final against the first division club Die Eulen Ludwigshafen . Despite a small phase of weakness, in the end you could clearly win this game and win with 35:22. Thus, the lions were in the round of 16 of the DHB Cup, in which they met defending champion Rhein-Neckar Löwen at home and were only subject to this after extra time.

The BHC also caused a stir in the league. After the 27:23 opening win against Eulen Ludwigshafen, they drew attention to themselves with two 35:26 home wins against TBV Lemgo and HC Erlangen , which were part of the best start to the season in the club's history (14: 4 points). In the course of the season they were able to fix themselves in the upper third of the table, secured themselves with a 29:22 away win at VfL Gummersbach on matchday 25 - and thus earlier than ever before - to stay in the league and after home wins against their direct rivals MT Melsungen and Füchse Berlin are still fifth or sixth and are hoping to participate in the EHF Cup next season. Although they ultimately missed this due to defeats against Eulen Ludwigshafen and the champions SG Flensburg-Handewitt , the season ended as the second-best climber in Bundesliga history with 38:30 points in seventh place, both in terms of placement and also meant a new club record in terms of points.

In preparation for the 2019/20 season, he defended his title at the Linden Cup with victories against Hüttenberg (33:22), Coburg (28:27) and Minden (33:30) . The BHC was also able to win the dextra FM Cup in Bremen with a 30:29 win against FRISCH AUF! Göppingen and a 32:31 after seven-meter throw against MT Melsungen won and thus remained unbeaten in the preparation.

The first four tournament in Pforzheim marked the beginning of the competitive season , in which the BHC made it to the second round of the cup with two wins (35:23 against TGS Pforzheim in the semifinals and 28:22 against HC Elbflorenz in the final), that they lost with 24:27 against Lemgo.

The start in the HBL was successful with five points from the first four games. A few defeats, two draws and victories against, among others, Erlangen and the TVB Stuttgart followed. After five consecutive defeats in the meantime, a victory against HSG Nordhorn-Lingen could not be celebrated again until matchday 20 - the 31:18 was the highest Bundesliga victory in the history of Bergisch HC. The home win was followed by three more defeats after the European Championship break, including a 20:21 against SG Flensburg-Handewitt due to a direct free throw converted by Jim Gottfridsson after the end of the season. On the 24th matchday they could celebrate an important 28:27 home win against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf and thus gain air in the relegation battle. Until the season ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic , there was a 26:26 draw against Füchse Berlin in addition to several defeats, so that the season ended in 13th place with the same ratio as HC Erlangen due to the better goal difference.

Placements since 2006

season	league	rank	Points	Gates	Ascent / descent	Cup
2006/07	2nd Bundesliga South	03	45:23	956: 903		3rd round
2007/08	2nd Bundesliga South	05	39:29	1024: 972		1 round
2008/09	2nd Bundesliga South	03	44:24	1096: 998		2nd round
2009/10	2nd Bundesliga South	02	49:19	1030: 927	Promotion relegation	Quarter finals
2010/11	2nd Bundesliga South	01	54:14	1052: 902	Ascent	Round of 16
2011/12	Bundesliga	16	17:51	921: 1037	descent	3rd round
2012/13	2nd Bundesliga	01	57:15	1102: 941	Ascent	3rd round
2013/14	Bundesliga	15th	22:46	934: 1010		2nd round
2014/15	Bundesliga	14th	28:44	982: 1064		2nd round
2015/16	Bundesliga	12	19:45	815: 911		Semifinals
2016/17	Bundesliga	16	22:46	868: 954	descent	Round of 16
2017/18	2nd Bundesliga	01	70: 6	1132: 918	Ascent	Round of 16
2018/19	Bundesliga	07th	38:30	891: 880		Round of 16
2019/20	Bundesliga	013	20:34	709: 728		Round of 16

Season 2020/21

Current squad

No.	Nat.	Surname	position	Date of birth	size	In the team since	Contract until	Last club
1		Christopher Rudeck	TW	October 15, 1994	2.00 m	2015	2021	Mors-Thy Håndbold
12		Joonas Klama	TW	February 18, 2000	1.94 m	2019	2021	VfL Gummersbach
61		Tomáš Mrkva	TW	January 20, 1989	2.03 m	2019	2022	HBW Balingen-Weilstetten
5		Max Darj	KM	September 27, 1991	1.93 m	2017	2022	Alingsås HK
9		Alexander Weck	RL	September 25, 2000	1.98 m	own youth	2023	own youth
10		Jonas Leppich	KM			own youth		own youth
11		Arnór Þór Gunnarsson	RA	October 23, 1987	1.80 m	2012	2021	TV Bittenfeld
14th		Maciej Majdziński	RR	April 8, 1996	1.89 m	2016	2022	HSV Hamburg
17th		Daniel Fontaine	RL	July 2nd 1989	1.94 m	2018	2022	Fresh on Göppingen
18th		Yannick Fraatz	RA	August 12, 1999	1.85 m	2018	2022	HSG Nordhorn-Lingen
19th		Tomáš Babák	RM	December 28, 1993	1.86 m	2016	2021	TSV St. Otmar St. Gallen
20th		Csaba Szucs	RL / RM	July 28, 1987	2.03 m	2017	2022	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
21st		Sebastian Damm	LA	July 12, 1995	1.83 m	2019	2021	VfL Lübeck-Schwartau
22nd		Fabian Gutbrod	RL	July 1, 1988	1.99 m	2013	2021	HBW Balingen-Weilstetten
24		Linus Arnesson	RL / RM	May 11, 1990	1.88 m	2017	2023	Redbergslids IK
25th		Ragnar Jóhannsson	RR	October 24, 1990	1.91 m	2019	2021	TV Hüttenberg
28		Tom Bergner	KM	May 4, 2000		2020	2022	VfL Eintracht Hagen
30th		Tom Kåre Nikolaisen	KM	December 29, 1997	1.96 m	2020	2022	Kolstad Håndball
32		Jeffrey Boomhouwer	LA	June 15, 1988	1.79 m	2018	2021	MT Melsungen
39		Lukas Stutzke	RL / RM	January 14, 1998	1.95 m	2018	2022	TSV Bayer Dormagen
77		David Schmidt	RR	October 19, 1993	1.90 m	2020		TVB Stuttgart

Legend:

TW = goalkeeper

RL = back space left RM = back center RR = back area right

LA = left wing KM = center of circle RA = right winger

Trainers and supervisors

Surname	Office	nationality	Date of birth
Sebastian Hinze	Head coach		April 26, 1979
Markus Pütz	Assistant coach		March 5, 1983
Oliver Shoemaker	Athletic trainer
Siegfried Knapik	Team supervisor		May 8, 1944
Jan Artmann	Team assistant		May 23, 1991
Dr. Diederich von der Heyde	Team doctor		October 1, 1955
Severin Feldmann	Physiotherapist		May 16, 1988

Additions 2020/21 David Schmidt ( TVB 1898 Stuttgart ) Tom Kåre Nikolaisen ( Kolstad Håndball ) Tom Bergner ( VfL Eintracht Hagen )

Departures 2020/21 Leoš Petrovský ( TuS N-Lübbecke ) Kristian Nippes (end of career) Rafael Baena (BM Los Dólmenes)

Other men's teams

The second team of the BHC plays in the 2020/21 season in the Oberliga (5th division). There are also three other men's teams that are active in the lower leagues.

Youth and women

• The A-youth of Bergisches HC plays in the A-youth Bundesliga . The greatest success was winning the A-Jugend-Bundesliga in 2007.
• The B-Jugend is currently represented in both the male and female areas of the North Rhine Regionalliga.
• The 1st women's team plays in the Niederrhein-Landesliga Frauen Group 2 in the 2018/2019 season, after having been promoted every season since the division was re-established.

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Solinger Tageblatt of January 9, 2019, page 11 Roots and hearts of lions remain Bergisch
2. ↑ Now it is the strongest league in the world ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated May 8, 2013, accessed May 9, 2013 
3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated June 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ dkb-handball-bundesliga.de
5. ↑ handball-world.news
6. ↑ wuppertaler-rundschau.de
7. ↑ wz.de
8. ↑ wuppertaler-rundschau.de
9. ↑ solinger-tageblatt.de
10. ↑ bhc06.de
11. ↑ giessener-anzeiger.de
12. ↑ rp-online.de
13. ↑ handball-world.news: TVB 1898 Stuttgart loses left-handed Schmidt 2020 from July 10, 2019, accessed on July 10, 2019
14. ↑ handball-world.news: Bergischer HC signs Norwegian national player Nikolaisen on January 3, 2020, accessed on January 3, 2020
15. ↑ handball-world.news: Bergischer HC with personnel change at the district and "until further notice" without Christopher Rudeck from March 10, 2020, accessed on March 10, 2020
16. ↑ handball-world.news: TuS N-Lübbecke signs Leos Petrovsky on February 19, 2020, accessed on February 19, 2020
17. ↑ Solinger Tageblatt: Kristian Nippes ends his great career on January 9, 2020, accessed on January 25, 2020
18. ↑ handball-world.news: Decision made: Rafael Baena returns to Spain on June 2nd, 2020, accessed on June 2nd, 2020