Handball-Bundesliga Round 1 Betting Picks 2026
A new season of handball starts this weekend in Germany. The Handball-Bundesliga embarks on its 34 round quest to crown a champion on Thursday. The goal is to get to the top two clubs on the table at the end of the season to earn a spot to compete in the EHF Champions League. The 3rd through 6th clubs still get rewarded earning their way to the EHF European League. These Handball-Bundesliga Round 1 Betting Picks 2026 help set the table for another exciting season of German handball.
Round 1 offers a clean slate and is the best opportunity to take advantage of some mispriced lines by the books. As such, we will focus on three underdogs that have a solid shot at starting the new season on the right foot.
Handball-Bundesliga Round 1 Betting Picks 2026
TBV Lemgo Lippe Over THW Kiel (+425 via Hard Rock)
Lemgo enters the first round as a huge underdog with their opponents coming in as high as -650 (via theScore) favorites. However, this seems skewed given TBV ended last season one spot higher on the table than Kiel. Despite each club ending the season with 42 points, Lemgo claimed fifth place overall with 11 more goals scored on the year. They should enter this match primed and ready, having participated in four friendly matches over the last two weeks.
Kiel ended the 25/26 season with a whimper, dropping four of its last five matches. THW closed out its year with 17 wins, 9 losses, and 8 draws, barely hanging on to the chance to participate in the EHF European League by one spot. Kiel took the court in a friendly match this month. In early August it walked away with a 37-24 victory over Austrian club BT Füchse of the HLA Meisterliga.
These two met in the final round of the 25/26 season with Lemgo leaving the court with a 34-31 victory. That win snapped TBV’s 12-match winless streak against THW going back to the 17/18 season.
Rhein-Neckar Löwen Over TSV Hannover Burgdorf (+155 via Hard Rock)
TSV Hannover-Burgdorf struggled over the back end of last season winning only two of its last 13 matches. The Warriors closed out the 25/26 season with 11 wins, 16 losses, and 7 draws which landed them in 11th place on the table. If there is one bright spot for Burgdorf it’s the 36-29 victory it picked up earlier this week against TUS Ferndorf in the friendlies.
Rhein-Neckar Löwen came up five points short of making it into the EHF European League. The Lions wound up with 17 wins, 14 losses and 3 draws last year. They made a solid charge down the backstretch of the season winning three of their final five matches. Rhein-Neckar has picked up two wins this month in two friendly games.
The Lions came away with a 29-28 win over Burgdorf when these teams last met in June of last year.
HBW Balingen/Weilstetten Over Handball Club Hamburg (+375 via Hard Rock)
No one is looking forward to a new season of top tier handball play than HBW Balingen/Weilstetten. Two seasons ago, HBW was relegated to the 2nd HBL. Last season, they finished at the top of that table thereby earning their way back into the premiere league for the 26/27 season. HBW racked up 28 wins on the year with only 5 losses and a draw. More impressively, the club boasted a +195 point differential which was the best in the league and a full 79 points above second place SG Bietigheim-Metterzimmern. The boys of Balingen are riding the momentum of a 38-31 win against TV Großwallstadt in a friendly match.
Handball Club Hamburg ended last season in the middle of the table with 15 wins, 18 losses and a draw. HCH ended the season however, winning six of its last ten matches. On the whole, the club struggled defensively, allowing a -21 goal differential.
HBW won the last victory in the head-to-head contest against Hamburg. In the 23/24 season HBW left the court with a 37-30 victory.
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