VfL Gummersbach

VfL Gummersbach
Founded	1861;165 years ago (1861)
Arena	Schwalbe-Arena
Capacity	4,132
President	Dieter Brüning
Head coach	Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson
League	Handball-Bundesliga
2024–25	7th of 18
Club colours
Home Away
Website Official site

VfL Gummersbach is a professional handball club from the German city of Gummersbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. Currently, VfL Gummersbach competes in the Handball-Bundesliga and the DHB-Pokal. The club has seen great success, especially from the late 1960s until the early 1990s.

Gummi – the official mascot of VfL Gummersbach.

History

The club was founded as a multisports club on March 3, 1861, as Gummersbacher Turnverein(GTV). The youth department was founded in 1884, and in 1906 women were included as members.

The handball department was founded in 1925. ^[1] While field handball was the most popular variant in Germany at the time, Gummersbach focused on indoor handball.

In 1966 the club won the German Championship for the first time. In 1970 the club won the European Cup, beating SC Dynamo Berlin in the final. ^[2] During the 1970s the club won four more German championships, as well as 2 German cups and five European Cups.

During the 1980s Gummersbach remained one of the strongest teams in West Germany behind TUSEM Essen and TV Großwallstadt. They also won the first edition of the IHF Cup in 1982. ^[3]

Crest, colours, supporters

Kits

HOME
Select 2014–16

AWAY
Select 2014–16

Accomplishments

• 1. Handball-Bundesliga: 12
  •  Gold: 1966, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1991
• 2. Handball-Bundesliga:
  •  Gold: 2022
• DHB-Pokal:
  •  Gold: 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1985
• EHF Champions League:
  •  Gold: 1967, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1983
  •  Silver: 1972
• EHF Cup Winners' Cup:
  •  Gold: 1978, 1979, 2010, 2011
• EHF Cup:
  •  Gold: 1982, 2009
• European Club Championship:
  •  Gold: 1979, 1983
  •  Silver: 2006
• Double

Winners: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2025–2026 season ^[4]

Goalkeepers 01 Dominik Kuzmanović 16 Bertram Obling Left Wingers 05 Tilen Kodrin 06 Miloš Vujović Right Wingers 08 Lukas Blohme 11 Mathis Häseler Line players 04 Elliði Snær Viðarsson 27 Kristjan Horžen 66 Štěpán Zeman

Left Backs 07 Julian Köster (c) 15 Miro Schluroff 30 Tom Kiesler Central Backs 20 Ludvig Hallbäck 22 Kentin Mahé Right Backs 14 Teitur Örn Einarsson 31 Kay Smits

Transfers

Transfers for the 2026–27 season

Joining Ignacio Biosca (GK) (from HBC Nantes) Nikola Roganović (LB) (from HK Malmö) Garðar Ingi Sindrason (CB) (from FH) Alex Dujshebaev (RB) (from Industria Kielce)

Leaving Dominik Kuzmanović (GK) to SC Magdeburg [5] Julian Köster (LB) (to THW Kiel)

Transfer History

Transfers for the 2025–26 season
Joining Kay Smits (RB) from SG Flensburg-Handewitt João Gomes (RB) from Sporting CP Leaving Giorgi Tskhovrebadze (RB) to RK Zagreb

Notable players

• Heiner Brand
• Stefan Kretzschmar
• Erhard Wunderlich
• Andreas Dörhöfer
• Mark Dragunski
• Frank von Behren
• Patrick Wiencek
• Christian Ramota
• Adrian Pfahl
• Klaus-Dieter Petersen
• Jochen Brand
• Klaus Brand
• Frank Dammann
• Joachim Deckarm
• Jochen Feldhoff
• Frank Dammann
• Claus Fey
• Rudi Rauer
• Henning Wiechers
• Klaus Westebbe
• Andreas Thiel
• Dirk Rauin
• Gerd Rosendahl
• Franz-Josef Salewski
• Klaus Schlagheck
• Hansi Schmidt
• Christian Fitzek
• Stefan Hecker
• Holger Löhr
• Thomas Krokowski
• Helmut Kosmehl
• Rüdiger Neitzel
• Gunnar Jaeger
• Rolf Jaeger
• Klaus Kater
• Daniel Narcisse
• Igor Anić
• Kentin Mahé
• François-Xavier Houlet
• Vladan Krasavac
• Aleksandar Stanojević
• Momir Ilić
• Vjenceslav Somić
• Drago Vuković
• Kristján Arason
• Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson
• Erik Veje Rasmussen
• Kyung-Shin Yoon
• Goran Stojanović
• Borko Ristovski
• Aljoša Rezar
• Rune Erland
• Nándor Fazekas
• Viktor Szilágyi

Coaching history

• Petre Ivănescu
• Velimir Kljaić
• Sead Hasanefendić
• Horst Dreischang (1959–1971) ^[6]

References

1. "Die Geschichte des VfL muss umgeschrieben werden". Oberberg Aktuell (in German). 9 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
2. European Cup 1970 edition - Todor66
3. 1982 IHF Cup - Todor66
4. "Unsere Mannschaft". VfL Gummersbach. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
5. https://www.scm-handball.de/news/news-detail-page/sc-magdeburg-verpflichtet-torhueter-dominik-kuzmanovic
6. "Leseprobe – VFL Gummersbach. Die Chronik by Verlag die Werkstatt – Issuu". 19 November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.

External links

• Official website