Bergischer HC

Bergischer HC go into this season back in the top flight, promoted from the 2. Handball-Bundesliga in 2025 for the fourth time in their history. Each of their three previous promotions, in 2011, 2013 and 2018, was followed by a swift return to the second division.

That arrangement still shapes match days now — there is no single home ground, with fixtures split between the Uni-Halle in Wuppertal and the larger Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Düsseldorf, while Solingen's Klingenhalle serves mainly the youth sides.

In the 2025–26 DHB-Pokal, BHC beat SC Magdeburg in the semi-final to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2016, when Magdeburg had beaten them at the same stage. This time they went further, into the final in Cologne, where Füchse Berlin beat them 33–42 on 19 April 2026.

Eloy Morante Maldonado, named Player of the Season in the 2.

So is a first DHB-Pokal title, after finishing runners-up in April.