The 78th German women’s title will be determined this weekend at Bonn THV with the Final Four battling it out for the trophy.
The reigning champions Mannheimer HC start on Saturday at 11.45 am (CET) with their semi-final game against Rot-Weiss Köln.
Both teams also made it to the Final Four last year. Mannheim eliminated UHC Hamburg 2-0 on the way to its first field DM title, and Cologne’s final dreams were ended by a 1-3 defeat by Der Club an der Alster.
With their youthful panel, Rot-Weiss made serene passage to this stage in the play-off series against Großflottbeker THGC.
Nevertheless, defending champions MHC go into this knockout game as favourites having reached the final for the past three years, notably winning against Rot-Weiss in the 2021 semi-final.
The sides did draw their only meeting this season 0-0 with MHC taking the bonus point in a shoot-out. Rot-Weiss, though, have championship credentials, winning the national title five times to Mannheim’s one.
The second semi at 2pm (CET) will be a repeat of the 2022 meeting between that year’s eventual champions Düsseldorfer HC and Alster when the former prevailed in a shoot-out.
In 2021, Düsseldorf also prevailed in a shoot-out against Alster in the semi-finals and then became champions.
This season, though, Alster finished seven points better off than their rivals in the league phase and won 1-0 in Düsseldorf.
The final begins on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
