Sport-Union Neckarsulm is the women's handball team of the sports club Sport-Union Neckarsulm, from the town of Neckarsulm in the southwest of Germany. The team competes domestically in the Handball-Bundesliga and the DHB-Pokal. They play their home matches at the Ballei-Sporthalle and usually wear dark navy shirts and shorts.
History
Early years
Sport-Union Neckarsulm was founded on New Year's Day in 2009 as Neckarsulmer Sport-Union (NSU) through the merger of Sportvereinigung Neckarsulm 1946 and Sportfreunde Neckarsulm. The name alludes to the NSU Motorenwerke, the predecessor of Audi, which was located in the city of Neckarsulm until 1985. The multi sports club consists of 17 different sections of which the women’s handball section is one of the best known because of their multi-year participation in the Bundesliga, Germany‘s most important handball league.
Climbing up the league pyramid
After two championship titles in regional fifth and fouth tier leagues, coach Emir Hadzimuhamedović led the team also to promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in the summer of 2013. In the following years, the team established itself there and gained promotion to the Bundesliga as second division champions in 2016.
A big part in the various promotions from regional amateur levels to professional tiers played the successful under-17 team, which won the German championship in 2011. Talented players of this youth team formed an integral part of the first team in later years.[1]
New name and establishment in the Bundesliga
After promotion to the Bundesliga Neckarsulmer Sport-Union was fighting against relegation for their first three years in Germany’s top tier but eventually managed to stay in the league. With coaches Pascal Morgant and Tanja Logvin at the helm, the team established itself in the following years as a solid force in the Bundesliga with a sixth place finish in the 2020-21 season, the best result to date.
In 2021 Neckarsulmer Sport-Union was forced to change its name and crest due to unwanted associations with the right-wing extremist organization National Socialist Underground, although the abbreviation NSU has a long regional tradition in and around the city of Neckarsulm.[2] Now playing as Sport-Union Neckarsulm the club produced players like Selina Kalmbach or Sarah Wachter who went on to become internationals for Germany.
Sport-Union Neckarsulm play their home matches at the Ballei-Sporthalle, a multi-purpose arena which hosts up to 1,500 spectators (standing and seated). The arena complex also includes a hall for cultural events for up to 1,000 people as well as a restaurant and a bowling alley.[3] The men’s handball team of the club plays selected matches at the Ballei as well. The arena is among the most visited in the Bundesliga.[4]
The club's most prominent supporters' group is Blaue Wand ("Blue wall"), which is located in sector B of Ballei's Foyer-Tribüne. The Blaue Wand arranges away day travels as well as meet-and-greets with players and staff and is also heavily involved in the organisation of home matches.[6]
