Handball players attack

“Are strong enough to win a title”

Ex-Fiver Ivan Martinovic plays for Croatia with the number 51.(Bild: AP/Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

After the World Cup is before the league! This weekend, the Viennese clubs in the Handball Liga Austria (HLA) get back to their daily routine. While the Fivers got a taste of the World Cup in Croatia and want to move up in the league, West Wien are preparing for their mission to avoid relegation.

The recent Handball World Cup is of course still on everyone's lips. Especially in Margareten, where the Fivers are proud of runner-up Ivan Martinovic. The 27-year-old was born in Vienna, trained with the Fivers, then decided to play for the Croatian national team and has now been selected for the All-Star team at the World Championships in Norway, Denmark and Croatia. "He still visits us whenever he's in Vienna and sometimes trains with us. And he always wears the five on his chest both at his club, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, and in the Croatian team," says Fivers boss Tom Menzl, proud of his former protégé.

Captain Markus Kolar and the Fivers want a title.(Bild: GEPA)

And especially Jakob Nigg, the Fivers' wing in team kit. The HLA squad were there as fans in the hall for Austria's 28:26 preliminary round victory over Qatar in Porec.

The league team from Margarten - led by Ivan's brother Marin Martinovic, who is two years older - will return to league action on Friday. They kick off their campaign at second-placed Hard. "We've tried to prepare for the league in the best possible way with a training camp and international tests in Croatia and Hungary," said Menzl.

He formulated his goals as follows: "We want to move up from our current fourth place. We still believe that we are strong enough to win a title this year, whether in the league or the cup. But it's not an obligation, we have no pressure." The "home double" against Graz will take place next week: On Tuesday, February 11, the Styrians will host the team in the Cup round of 16, and on Saturday, February 15, the Grazers will return to the fifth district for the league duel.

West Wien and Clemens Meleschnig want to avoid relegation.(Bild: GEPA)

West Wien wants to avoid relegation
Since the beginning of the week, West Wien has also been able to train in full for the first time this year. "Five of our players are currently in the army and have had basic training," explains coach Roland Marouschek.

"Everyone is fit at the moment and we want to attack with everything we've got. It's pretty clear that we'll play the lower play-off to stay in the league. And we want to do that with our young lads," says Marouschek, aware of the starting position: "In the end, someone has to get relegated. And that definitely doesn't want to be us."

Meanwhile, the spectre of economic relegation has been banished from the west of Vienna. "The scenario where we make it in sporting terms but not economically no longer exists. If we stay in the league in sporting terms, there will also be a West Wien team in the top division next season," said the club.