Magdeburg must win on the way to defending their title

When the dark season begins, handball increasingly comes into focus. The women’s World Cup is just around the corner, while the men’s handball home World Cup starts in January. The club teams still have a number of sporting tasks to fulfill. Among other things, the IHF Super Globe, the unofficial world championship for club teams, is currently taking place. In our Magdeburg vs Al Khaleej betting tip, we take a look at whether the defending champions will get off to a successful start in this tournament

Saudi Arabia may not have much to do with handball, but even here the Arabs have not failed to attract some of the best handball teams in the world to Damman. The SCM will therefore be moving from Germany in the fall to sunny Saudi Arabia. The group stage should be a mere formality for Bennet Wiegert’s team and, barring a handball miracle, the four European teams will win their groups and progress to the semi-finals.

The Magdeburg team will first face the hosts Al Khaleej. The Saudis are the national champions of the IHF Super Globe. The group of three is completed by the University of Queensland from Australia, the winners of the Oceanian Handball Champions Cup. The group stage should not be more than a casual warm-up for the reigning European Champions League winners

In this opening match between Magdeburg and Al Khaleej, there is no need to predict the winner of this game.

Magdeburg – stats & current form

SC Magdeburg is the team to beat in Damman. The team from Anhalt won the IHF Super Globe in 2021 and 2022 and are aiming for a hat-trick these days. Bennet Wiegert’s team are also the reigning winners of the European Champions League. With these successes behind them, Magdeburg are the big favorites in Saudi Arabia alongside Füchse Berlin, FC Barcelona and Kielce

With strong form to Damman

The Anhalt side arrive in very good shape and had a golden October, which began at the end of September. They recently recorded a total of nine wins in a row in the Bundesliga and the Champions League. Bennet Wiegert’s team have been unbeaten in ten games. We assume that this will not change on Tuesday and are only looking at the odds between Magdeburg and Al Khaleej, which have something to do with a win for the Bundesliga team.

The HBL is more evenly matched this season than it has perhaps been for a long time. Five to six teams can have hopes of winning the title. SCM is currently in second place with 19:3 points. Only the Füchse Berlin are ahead of the Anhalt team with 21:1 points. Magdeburg still have some catching up to do in the top flight. In the preliminary round, they are currently only in second place. However, if the run of the last few weeks continues, then direct qualification for the quarter-finals via the top two places is certainly possible.

Before the international matches last weekend, Magdeburg recorded a relatively relaxed home win against Bergischer HC. The match was already decided at the break at 21:14. The final score was 40:28. Denmark’s Michael Damgaard was the most successful scorer with eight goals. All the players who were on the pitch will also travel to Saudi Arabia. Only Gisli Kristjansson will still be missing through injury.

Predicted line-up for Magdeburg:
Hernandez, Portner – Bergendahl, Claar, Damgaard, Hornke, Lagergren, Magnusson, Meister, Mertens, Musche, O’Sullivan, Saugstrup, Smarason, Weber – Coach: Wiegert

Al Khaleej – Statistics & current form

While the Saudi soccer league has spent a lot of money on transferring numerous top-class newcomers to the Middle East, handball in Saudi Arabia is not really in the spotlight in this country. Al Khaleej are the reigning champions and are taking part in the IHF Super Globe for the second time since 2022, finishing a good sixth last year. Among other things, there was a sensational victory against Benfica Lisbon

Petar Nenadic as the top star of Al Khaleej

The squad has changed significantly since last year. Some Egyptian loan players have returned to their homeland. Naturally, the Saudi champions have tried to compensate for the departures. Three well-known newcomers were brought to Saudi Arabia. Hussain Alsayyad, the captain of the Bahraini national team, is one of them.

Another Egyptian international, Mohamed Mamdouh Shebib, has also joined the team. The best-known name in the team, however, is Petar Nenadic. The 37-year-old Serbian has played for Barcelona, Veszprem, Füchse Berlin and Paris Saint-Germain, among others, and is now winding down his career with Al Khaleej.

Not much is known about Dimitris Dimitroulias’ current form in the team. However, the ten-time champions have made a successful start to the Price Faisal bin Fahad Saudi Handball League. For Bennet Wiegert, it is likely to be somewhat tricky to prepare his team for the Saudis once again. Nevertheless, it should be clear that there is no way around predicting a clear victory for the defending champions in the clash between Magdeburg and Al Khaleej.

Magdeburg – Al Khaleej head-to-head comparison / H2H result

SC Magdeburg and Al Khaleej generally have very few opportunities to face each other in a handball match. In fact, the two clubs not only took part in the IHF Super Globe together last year, but also met in a direct duel in the preliminary round. Somewhat unexpectedly, the match turned out to be closer than expected.

Magdeburg led 17:14 at the break, but ultimately ran out comfortable 35:29 winners.Lukas Mertens and Daniel Pettersson were the most successful scorers for the Bundesliga club with five goals each, who were unable to get a proper grip on Hassan Kaddah in particular. The Egyptian scored an outstanding eleven times in this encounter

Magdeburg – Al Khaleej tip

In principle, it is quite pleasant for SC Magdeburg that they do not have to start the IHF Super Globe at full throttle, but can use the preliminary round to acclimatize in Damman. Two wins in the group stage should be a must for Bennet Wiegert’s team. The only question is how big these wins will be. The somewhat tougher task is likely to be against the Saudi champions on Tuesday.

However, Magdeburg have recently won nine competitive games in a row against much tougher opponents and will probably extend this run into double figures on Tuesday. We think the difference will be at least seven goals

Al Khaleej are aiming for second place in the group and will therefore focus on the match against the University of Queensland. Nevertheless, it is certainly an honor to play against the two-time title winners from Saxony-Anhalt on Tuesday. We don’t think SCM will show any weakness and have decided to play the odds on a handicap win (-6.5 goals) for SCM between Magdeburg and Al Khaleej