MT Melsungen

Melsungen go into this season as European champions in a competition they'd never previously won: the club beat THW Kiel 24-23 in the EHF European League final in Hamburg to land its first major trophy. Roberto García Parrondo has coached the side since September 2021.

Melsungen itself proved too small to hold a top-flight team: the Rotenburg an der Fulda hall used just after promotion sat too far from town to draw a crowd, so in December 2007 the club shifted its home matches to the Rothenbach-Halle in Kassel, which seats 4,300 for handball. A move to Kassel's new Probonio Arena is due for the 2027-28 season.

Locally the team is still known as the Bartenwetzer, a nod to the barbers of Melsungen, and plays in red and white. The fixture against HSG Wetzlar, the Hessen-Derby, remains the one that matters most regionally. Felix Danner spent twelve years in the squad before leaving in 2021 and came back in 2025.

The DHB Pokal has been less kind: three final appearances since 2021, against TBV Lemgo Lippe, SC Magdeburg and Kiel, and three defeats. The domestic cup is still the one trophy missing from the cabinet.