New look for the women's handball Bundesliga: relegation and playoffs changed!

New look for the women's handball Bundesliga: relegation and playoffs changed!

Zwickau, Deutschland - The women's handball Bundesliga is faced with an exciting change. On June 28, 2025, the general meeting in Düsseldorf decided several important changes that will shape the coming season. The league will not only come up with an adapted game mode, but also bring back the relegation. This promises exciting duels between the top teams of the first and second league.

Among the new regulations will only play the quartet of the first four teams in the main round for the German championship. The playoffs are held in the "Best of Three" system, which means that half the final and final games are designed for the maximum of three clashes. For the teams in the ranks five to eight, on the other hand, it is called "everyone against everyone", this mode is held in a double round to determine fifth place. So the pressure increases to secure the best places, because each point now counts twice!

around the playdowns and relegation

The playdowns are also fundamentally reformed. The places nine to twelve also fight in a double round for whereabouts in the first division. The fact that the eleventh place afterwards plays a starting place in the first division against the second place in the 2nd Bundesliga afterwards plays in another playdown round against the second place. Details for the implementation of these games are still in progress and will be published before the start of the season.

Special attention is also on the transition period with regard to the issue of the hall. Until the end of the season 2028/29, the clubs will have time to adapt their venues of the minimum capacity of 1,200 or 1,500 spectators. Associations that do not meet these requirements must expect considerable compensation payments. In particular, SV Halle-Neustadt, which is currently fighting with a lack of 250 places, could pay up to 7,500 euros per game in the worst case. Press spokesman Marcel Gohlke is already checking creative alternatives for venues in Weißenfels or Dessau.

a step into the future

These changes are not only a reaction to old challenges, but also part of a more relaxed further development strategy that was adopted in 2020. With the return of the relegation and the modified playoffs, the women's handball Bundesliga shows a clear direction. The incentive for the teams to develop and improve cannot be assessed highly enough.

Both the changes in the hall requirements and the adjustments in game mode are steps in the right direction. It remains exciting to observe how these innovations will affect the league and the games in the coming year. The fascination of handball remains - you can look forward to it!

For more information about the details of the new season, we refer to the reporting of MDR and Handball-Welt .