Rhine-Neckar lion

Rhine-Neckar lion

Full name	Rhein-Neckar Löwen GmbH
Abbreviation (s)	RNL
Nickname (s)	Lions (formerly Kröstis)
Founded	2002 from TSG Kronau & TSV Baden Östringen
Club colors	yellow blue
Hall	SAP Arena , Mannheim
Places	13,200
executive Director	Jennifer Kettemann
Trainer	Martin Schwalb
league	Handball Bundesliga
2019/20
rank	5th place
DHB Cup	Quarter finals
International	EHF Cup group stage (game abandoned on April 24th, 2020)
Website	rhein-neckar-loewen.de
home Away
Greatest successes
National	German Champion 2016 , 2017 DHB Cup Winner 2018 Supercup Winner 2016, 2017, 2018
International	EHF Cup winner 2013

SG Kronau / Östringen attacked HSG Wetzlar in 2006

Conny, the mascot of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen

The Rhein-Neckar Löwen are a team in the handball Bundesliga that was founded in 2002 as the SG Kronau / Östringen syndicate and has had its current name since 2007. The lions are at home in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region ; their home venue is the SAP Arena in Mannheim .

history

TSV Östringen , one of the two predecessor clubs of the Löwen, was founded in 1900 and provided its first handball team in 1927. In 1926 the other predecessor club, the DJK Kronau, with handball as the main sport, was established. This was 1932 Baden and South German champions in field handball . In the semifinals of the German ( DJK ) championship in Dortmund they lost in front of 35,000 spectators - weakened by the injury-related elimination of the goalkeeper - the eventual master DJK Styrum 06 (Mülheim ad Ruhr) with 6:11. Three years later, TSG Kronau was created from the merger of DJK and SV Viktoria in 1904. In 1946, TV Östringen also merged and it was formed from the merger with DJK Östringen of TSV Östringen. This qualified for the first time in 1957 for the final round of the Baden championship, but lost both games and paid a lot of money in the game against SG Leutershausen with a 1:16. TSG Kronau also only came in twelfth and last place in the final round of the Baden Championship in 1965, but improved to eleventh place in the final round of the Baden Championship in the following season.

After the two-track Bundesliga was introduced as the highest German division in the 1966/67 season and the Oberliga Baden began playing as the highest Baden and second-highest German division in the same year , TSG Kronau rose after its first league season. Five years later she failed in the promotion games to the league - in the red sports hall, which was overcrowded with 1,100 spectators, the playoff against SG Walldorf-Astoria was lost 9:11. A year later, however, as a champion of the newly introduced Landesliga Süd, he was promoted to the Oberliga Baden. In 1978 TSV Östringen was promoted to the Oberliga Baden and four seasons later even to the Regionalliga Süd - but two years later they were relegated. In 1985, TSG Kronau was relegated from the Oberliga, while TSV Östringen rose again to the Regionalliga Süd in 1989 - TSG Kronau made it back to the Oberliga Baden for the second time in the same year, and in 1993 TSG Kronau also made it into the Regionalliga South. But two seasons later, TSG Kronau was relegated to the Baden Oberliga. In the same year TSV Östringen reached the 2nd Bundesliga South. In 1996 the B-youth of TSG Kronau celebrated the title of German champion with a final victory over SC Magdeburg . TSG Kronau and HV Bad Schönborn formed a syndicate (HSG) the following year, which was promoted to the Regionalliga Süd in 1999 and in 2000 even reached the 2nd Bundesliga South with the second promotion in a row . In 2002 TSV Baden Östringen failed as runner-up in the 2nd Bundesliga South in the relegation games to the 1st Bundesliga at the North Vice-President Wilhelmshaven HV (21:25, 24:21).

The SG Kronau / Östringen was finally created on July 1, 2002 from the merger of TSG Kronau with TSV Baden Östringen. The home venue was the Rhein-Neckar-Halle Eppelheim . In the next season, the syndicate was promoted to the 1st Bundesliga, but in 2004 the relegation followed, which was remedied in 2005 with the immediate promotion to the 1st Bundesliga. The home games were played in the newly built SAP Arena in Mannheim from the 2005/06 season . In 2006 SG Kronau / Östringen reached the final for the DHB Cup , which was lost to HSV Hamburg at 25:26 . In the following season, SG Kronau / Östringen also made it into the final of the DHB Cup and lost again - with 31:33 against THW Kiel , also because seven out of ten seven meters were awarded and you got a 22:18 lead gave out of his hands. Then the first men's team was officially renamed Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

In 2008, with the finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup , a European Cup final was reached for the first time, in which the Lions were defeated by the Hungarian representative MKB Veszprém KC (32:37, 28:28). In the same season, the A-youth of SG Kronau / Östringen won the German championship with a final victory over JSpG SC Magdeburg / Concordia Staßfurt. After the end of the 2008/09 season , the Rhein-Neckar Löwen took third place in the Bundesliga. The team reached the semi-finals when they first took part in the Champions League . In 2010 the final of the DHB-Pokal was reached again, but for the third time the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen lost, this time against HSV Hamburg with 33:34 (n. V.).

On May 19, 2013, the lions won the EHF European Cup , which was held for the first time , the successor to the EHF Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup . In the final of the Final Four tournament they won against hosts HBC Nantes with 26:24 and thus secured the first title in the club's history.

In the 2013/14 season , the Rhein-Neckar Löwen reached the Final Four of the DHB Cup for the seventh time, where they were defeated by SG Flensburg-Handewitt at 26:30 in the semifinals . In the Champions League, the quarter-finals were reached, where the RNL won the home game against FC Barcelona with 38:31, but lost the subsequent second leg at Palau Blaugrana with 24:31, so they were eliminated due to the away goals rule . In the Bundesliga, the team went into the last matchday as leaders due to the goal difference that was seven goals better than THW Kiel with the same points. They won their game against VfL Gummersbach with 40:35, but because the zebras defeated the Füchse Berlin with 37:23 at the same time , it was only enough for the lions to finish second.

For the season 2014/15 was Nikolaj Jacobsen 's new coach. Again they were runner-up behind the THW Kiel. In the following 2015/16 season , the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen became German champions for the first time. At the end of the season, the team was one point ahead of SG Flensburg-Handewitt and had by far the best goal difference of all teams. In 2016, the lions won the Supercup with a win against SC Magdeburg (27:24) .

In the 2016/17 season, the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen successfully defended their championship title. In 2018 they won the DHB Cup for the first time .

Squad for the 2020/21 season

No.	Nat.	Surname	position	Date of birth	size	since	Contract until	Last club
1		Mikael Appelgren	TW	09/06/1989	1.92 m	2015	2023	MT Melsungen
12		Andreas Palicka	TW	07/10/1986	1.89 m	2016	2022	Aalborg Håndbold
2		Andy Schmid	RM	08/30/1983	1.90 m	2010	2022	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg
3		Uwe Gensheimer	LA	10/26/1986	1.88 m	2019	2022	Paris Saint-Germain
6th		Niclas Kirkeløkke	RR	03/26/1994	1.95 m	2019	2021	GOG
8th		Romain Lagarde	RL	03/05/1997	1.94 m	2019	2023	HBC Nantes
9		Mait Patrail	RL	04/11/1988	2.01 m	2020	2021	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
17th		Jerry Tollbring	LA	09/13/1995	1.82 m	2017	2023	IFK Kristianstad
19th		Philipp Ahouansou	RL	05/02/2001	2.03 m	2017	2022	HSG Hanau
20th		Ilija Abutović	RL	08/02/1988	2.02 m	2018	2023	RK Vardar Skopje
23		Albin Lagergren	RR	09/11/1992	1.86 m	2020	2023	SC Magdeburg
24		Patrick Groetzki	RA	07/04/1989	1.89 m	2007	2023	SG Pforzheim / Eutingen
27		Jannis Schneibel	RM	07/06/2000	1.90 m	2016	2021	TV Hochdorf
32		Alexander Petersson	RR	07/02/1980	1.86 m	2012	2021	Foxes Berlin
33		Ýmir Örn Gíslason	KM	07/01/1997	1.92 m	2020	2022	Valur Reykjavík
36		Jesper Nielsen	KM	08/30/1989	2.00 m	2018	2021	Paris Saint-Germain
65		Lukas Nilsson	RL	11/16/1996	1.92 m	2020	2023	THW Kiel
80		Jannik Kohlbacher	KM	07/19/1995	1.93 m	2018	2023	HSG Wetzlar
		Martin Schwalb	Trainer	05/04/1963	1.94 m	2020	2021
		Klaus Gärtner	Assistant coach	06/16/1975	1.81 m	2020		ALPLA HC Hard
		Oliver Roggisch	Sports director	08/25/1978	2.02 m	2016

Additions 2020/21 Albin Lagergren ( SC Magdeburg ) Mait Patrail ( TSV Hannover-Burgdorf ) Lukas Nilsson ( THW Kiel )

Departures 2020/21 Gedeón Guardiola ( TBV Lemgo ) Mads Mensah Larsen ( SG Flensburg-Handewitt ) Tim Ganz ( SG Pforzheim / Eutingen ) Steffen Fäth ( HC Erlangen )

Well-known former players

Karol Bielecki Ivan Čupić Henning Fritz Róbert Gunnarsson Michael Haass Chrischa Hannawald Mariusz Jurasik

Andrei Klimovets Krzysztof Lijewski Holger Löhr Børge Lund Michael Mueller Jackson Richardson Oliver Roggisch

Ulrich Schuppler Christian Schwarzer Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson Sławomir Szmal Dmitri Torgovanov Oleg Velyky Christian Zeitz

Blocked jersey numbers

Since 2015, the shirt numbers of deserving players have been "blocked", that is, they are no longer given to active players. In memory of these players, banners with the corresponding numbers were placed under the roof of the SAP arena.

No.	player	Lock year	Game year
18th	Bjarte Myrhol	2015	2009-2015
03	Uwe Gensheimer	2016	2003-2016
C.0	Nikolaj Bredahl Jacobsen	2019	2014-2019

Trainer

Name (s)	from	to	Games
Martin Schwalb	02/25/2020
Kristján Andrésson	07/01/2019	02/22/2020
Nikolaj Bredahl Jacobsen	07/01/2014	06/30/2019
Guðmundur Guðmundsson	09/23/2010	06/30/2014
Ola Lindgren	07/01/2009	09/23/2010	039
Wolfgang Schwenke	09/28/2008	06/30/2009	028
Pan / Schwarzer	09/24/2008	09/27/2008	001
Christian Schwarzer	09/18/2008	09/24/2008	001
Yuri Shevtsov	07/01/2005	09/18/2008	106
Rolf Bechtold	07/01/2005	06/30/2005	016
Frédéric Volle	07/01/2004	07/01/2005	018th
Michael Roth / Rolf Bechtold	07/01/2002	06/30/2004	068

More teams

In addition to the Bundesliga team, 22 other teams are in action in Kronau and Östringen. The 2nd men's team plays in the 3rd League Season South (as of the 2017/18 season), the third in the Baden League and the fourth and fifth in the District League. The women are represented by two teams, one in the regional league and the other in the regional league. Eight male, four female and three mixed teams play in the youth department. The male A, B and C youth play in the respective top division, as do the female B and C youth.

Since 2017, all teams have been competing under the name Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

Fan club

The fan club is called "Baden Lions" and describes itself as "Supporters of SG Kronau / Östringen". Together with the Kiel “Zebra Sprats”, the “Baden Lions” are the largest fan club in the Handball Bundesliga . The "Baden Lions" are the first official fan club of SG Kronau / Östringen and in April 2010 registered 469 members. For each home game of the 1st team, they create their own hall booklet, the "Yellow Fever", in parallel to the official home game magazine "Löwengebrüll". The number of fan clubs has expanded since the 2014/2015 season. The "Handball Fan Club Löwenzahn eV" as well as the RIED supporters are the two new fan clubs of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

Greatest successes

• German champion 2016 , 2017
• German runner-up in 2014 , 2015 , 2018
• DHB Cup winner 2018
• DHB Supercup winner 2016, 2017, 2018
• Winner of the EHF European Cup 2013
• Semi-finalist EHF-Pokal 2012
• Reached the EHF Champions League semi-finals in 2009 , 2011
• Finalist European Cup Winners' Cup 2008
• Finalist DHB-Pokal 2006 , 2007 , 2010
• Promotion to the Bundesliga in 2003 , 2005
• German A youth champion 2008
• Highest away win in Bundesliga history: 42:19 at ThSV Eisenach on May 10, 2014

Seasonal balance sheets

season	Division	space	Gates	Points	DHB Cup	DHB Supercup	Champions League	European Cup
2002/03	2. BL South	01	1000: 0797	60: 08	2nd round	-	-	-
2003/04	Bundesliga	16	0906: 1015	18:50	2nd round	-	-	-
2004/05	2. BL South	02	1113: 0936	57:11	2nd round	-	-	-
2005/06	Bundesliga	06th	0983: 0951	38:30	final	-	-	-
2006/07	Bundesliga	08th	0986: 0945	42:26	final	-	-	Round of 16
2007/08	Bundesliga	04th	1095: 0960	52:16	Semifinals	-	-	final
2008/09	Bundesliga	03	1125: 0985	50:18	Semifinals	-	Semifinals	-
2009/10	Bundesliga	04th	1047: 0923	49:19	final	-	Quarter finals	-
2010/11	Bundesliga	04th	1104: 0980	53:15	Semifinals	-	Semifinals	-
2011/12	Bundesliga	05	1044: 0953	48:20	Round of 16	-	-	Semifinals
2012/13	Bundesliga	03	0965: 0850	54:14	Quarter finals	-	-	winner
2013/14	Bundesliga	02	1126: 0892	59: 09	Semifinals	-	Quarter finals	-
2014/15	Bundesliga	02	1093: 0876	63: 09	Semifinals	-	Round of 16	-
2015/16	Bundesliga	01	0916: 0704	56: 08	Semifinals	-	Round of 16	-
2016/17	Bundesliga	01	1011: 0840	61: 07	Semifinals	winner	Round of 16	-
2017/18	Bundesliga	02	1043: 0838	55:13	winner	winner	Round of 16	-
2018/19	Bundesliga	04th	0960: 0851	50:18	Quarter finals	winner	Round of 16	-
2019/20	Bundesliga*	04th	0775: 0723	34:18	Quarter finals	-	-	Group stage *

* All competitions ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

Competitions in italics have not yet been played.

Development of audience numbers

Sold out SAP arena

season	Average audience	development
2002/03	1,596	-
2003/04	2,965	+ 085.8%
2004/05	1,951	- 034.2%
2005/06	7,268	+ 372.5%
2006/07	8,349	+ 014.9%
2007/08	9,246	+ 010.7%
2008/09	7,923	- 014.3%
2009/10	7,431	- 006.2%
2010/11	8,033	+ 008.1%
2011/12	6,574	- 018.2%
2012/13	7,867	+ 019.7%
2013/14	7,301	- 007.2%
2014/15	8,887	+ 021.7%
2015/16	8,783	- 001.2%
2016/17	8,569	- 001.4%
2017/18	008.222	- 004.0%
2018/19	7,932	- 003.5%
2019/20	8,319 *	+ 004.8%

* at 12 home games (season canceled prematurely due to the corona pandemic).

The home game of the Rhein-Neckar-Löwen against HSV on the fourth match day of the 2014/15 season was played as part of a handball day on September 6, 2014 in the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt. 44,189 spectators followed this game, which also meant a world record for an indoor handball game. The previous record was set in May 2011. 36,651 visitors had seen the Danish championship final between AG Copenhagen and Bjerringbro-Silkeborg in the Brondby Stadium in Copenhagen .

Web links

Commons : Rhein-Neckar Löwen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.rhein-neckar-loewen.de/ueber-uns/historie/saison-2007-2008/
2. ↑ Rhein-Neckar Löwen triumph in the EHF-Cup Spiegel online, May 19, 2013, accessed on May 19, 2013
3. ↑ handball-world.news: Albin Lagergren changes to the Rhein-Neckar Löwen on April 29, 2019, accessed on April 29, 2019
4. ↑ handball-world.news: Rhein-Neckar Löwen sign Mait Patrail on June 5, 2020, accessed on June 5, 2020
5. ↑ handball-world: Change perfect: Rhein-Neckar Löwen sign Lukas Nilsson from THW Kiel. Retrieved July 29, 2020 . 
6. ↑ handball-world.news: Guardiola and Timm are coming, duo is going: TBV Lemgo is in the new circular position from November 19, 2019, accessed on November 19, 2019
7. ↑ handball-world.news: Change confirmed: Mads Mensah Larsen in Flensburg from November 19, 2019, accessed on November 19, 2019
8. ↑ Löwe strengthens the SG Pforzheim / eutingen from February 29, 2020, accessed on March 16, 2020
9. ↑ handball-world.news: Steffen Fäth is moving from Rhein-Neckar Löwen to HC Erlangen on May 12, 2020, accessed on May 12, 2020
10. ↑ Top-level training with the Cubs. Retrieved December 22, 2017 . 
11. ↑ My handball ticket: DKB Handball Bundesliga - spectators 2017/18 accessed on September 18, 2018.
12. ↑ Handball world record: 44,189 spectators at the Löwen victory over HSV . Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, September 6, 2014, accessed on October 1, 2018.