The reigning German champions in women's handball don't have another piece of silverware to add to their trophy cabinet. The BVB women's handball team lost 31-21 (16-13) to cup winners Bietigheim in the HBF Supercup at the Helmut Körnig Halle on Saturday evening.

In the Supercup, played for the first time in Dortmund, the reigning cup winners deservedly won and took revenge for the two Bundesliga defeats in the previous season. In their first competitive match of the season, one week before the league opener on 4 September in Neckarsulm, BVB still showed weaknesses, especially in defence.

"We had a good first half in which we should have taken our chances. In the second half we were unable to find any solutions," said BVB coach André Fuhr. "Bietigheim deserve their win. Congratulations to Markus Gaugisch's team."

500 fans attended the clash of the two top German clubs in Dortmund's Helmut Körnig Halle. Among them were the BVB women's football team, fresh off the back of their 3-0 friendly win in Siegen a few hours earlier, as well as Andreas Thiel, chairman of the HBF, and numerous other familiar faces such as BVB President Dr. Reinhard Rauball.

Although both teams are still preparing for the new season - BVB were only able to count on their five Olympic participants for the first time ten days ago in the training camp in Denmark, putting them at a clear disadvantage - both sides showed why they will be the teams to beat in German women's handball in the coming season.

"Nevertheless, this is not a yardstick. It is much too early for that. Things will certainly develop over the course of the season," stressed Dortmund coach André Fuhr. Saturday evening seemed to prove his point, particularly given that the rebuilding of the team, with nine new players arriving in the off-season, is far from complete.

With the exception of the injured Viktoria Woth and Delaila Amega (both cruciate ligament rupture), BVB started with their best line-up. Coach Fuhr initially opted for Yara ten Holte in goal and Mia Zschocke in front of the defence. This worked well to begin with, but after two missed penalties by Alina Grijseels and Fatos Kücükyildiz, the visitors found themselves 8-7 in front with a quarter of an hour played. BVB coach André Fuhr had seen enough, and chose to take his first time-out of the game.

BVB seemed to be rocked by the frenetic start to the game. Too many shots were failing to hit the target, and too often the defence was exposed. What is more, Bietigheim stood firm in defence. For several minutes, the Black & Yellows were unable to carve a route in on goal. After Tessa van Zijl had to leave the court for two minutes with the score at 13-11 (21), followed shortly afterwards by Fatos Kücükyildiz, it looked like Bietigheim were at risk of pulling away. Five minutes before the break, the score was 15-11, but BVB goalkeeper Madita Kohorst, who had been substituted on earlier, did a great job and saved a penalty kick at the final whistle. Nevertheless, a 16-13 deficit at the break was somewhat disheartening.

The second half did not bring any major changes. The Black & Yellows showed a lot more focus at the beginning, but Bietigheim were still able to increase their lead. Kelly Dulfer upped the advantage to 20-15 in the 40th minute, and when Xenia Smits scored her fourth goal five minutes later to make it 25-17, things were not looking good for BVB. Through an energetic performance in the closing stages, Borussia were ultimately able to make sure the final score didn't go beyond a ten-goal deficit.

BVB: Kohorst, ten Holte – Grijseels (3), Zschocke (2), van Zijl (2), Kücükyildiz, Sasaki, van der Heijden (2), Rønning (3), Bleckmann (1), Sando, Freriks (1), Berger (3), Gutiérrez Bermejo (2), Abdulla (2), Moreno